


Fire Storm

by Black_Wren



Series: Storm Warning [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Adventure, Gen, Wild West theme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 59,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22276357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Wren/pseuds/Black_Wren
Summary: Sabo is a loose cannon who can't follow orders, though, still gets job done.Ace is the newest member of White Beard's crew and no one is sure where he stands on that.When Doc Holiday and Typhoid Mary decide to mess with the two biggest names in the world, these two answer with the usual fireworks to end the occasion.
Series: Storm Warning [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603483
Comments: 14
Kudos: 22





	1. Ace and Sabo

**Author's Note:**

> Title Artwork by FanasY http://fav.me/db5bic0
> 
> A story I wrote after I commissioned the above. It grew larger and there are three others planed. Provided I figure out how to write the Shadow Storm.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet our two misfit heroes.

(Two years before Luffy sets out to sea.)

Somewhere in New World...

Ace leaned on the railing of the Moby Dick, trying to appear cool and composed. Braziers were lit across the wide deck of the ship to hold back the night's darkness and his shipmates were partying hard. The young man twitched his shoulders as the night wind caressed them. He should be mingling among the men of the ship, he had officially joined the White Beard pirates, he even had the tattoo that proved he belonged on his back now. He was fully accepted, no longer the rookie causing their great captain problems with his petty attempts to kill him. So why did he remain at the edge of the deck sipping his ale instead of joining in with the lively conversations and drunken dancing?

The new tattoo was the problem.

Ace had known the tattoo would be uncomfortable until it healed completely. His experience with the one on his arm had told him as much. He just didn't realize how uncomfortable it would be this time or, more likely, he had just forgotten the degree of discomfort. His back stung and itched and felt as if a low flame was searing his skin. A sensation he hadn't felt since acquiring his devil fruit abilities. The water from the bath had felt nice on his abused flesh but back in the dry air it stung all the fiercer. The fires from the braziers only aggravated the feeling so he stood where the cool ocean breeze could kiss the irritated skin and relieve his suffering if but a fraction. 

At least his physical suffering.

Ace glowered at his shipmates who he swore were taking sidelong glances in his direction and snickering into their drinks. Many knew what he was going through, having experienced this same rite of passage, but were barely suppressing the urge to tease him over it. Whether it was from sympathy or simply not wanting to enrage the infamous Fire Fist Ace, was unclear. Ace, however, firmly believed that if he failed to remain stoic while he healed, any whiff of weakness, and they would verbally dog pile him, flame-flame fruit be damned! So Ace sipped his ale, looking for all the world like he didn't care, too cool to participate in the drunken revelry.

Watching some of the more dorky pirates prance around like a bunch of fools reminded him of his little brother. Luffy would have been right in the middle of that, probably winning the prize on how much of a fool one could be without having a single drop of alcohol in his system, unlike the current batch competing for the prize at the moment who had to be completely smashed. He felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. His mind's eye added his little brother to the mix and he imagined what weird and wild ways he would stretch himself out. Everyone laughing at his antics and Luffy enjoying the attention, having fun as he laughed along. It allowed Ace to momentarily forget his pain.

"So Ace..." 

Whack!

Ace barely bit back a yelp, ale spilling all over the deck as his mug bounced in his grip.

Teech stood next to him, having just slapped Ace's sensitive back with a force just shy of activating his logia powers. So Ace had felt the impact. That coupled with his sore flesh caused it to smart something fierce. The uncomfortable itching was now replaced with the roaring inferno of offended nerves.

"I heard you finally accepted your place on the ship. Guess we're really shipmates now, huh? Hahahhha!" Teech continued to pat Ace's back, though, with a little more care than before.

He did that on purpose! Ace thought, suppressing the urge to incinerate the barrel shaped man. True, even if the impact had been amplified by his raw pain receptors, it was still less painful then being punched by the old geezer, his grandfather. It was more the surprise of the moment that got him.

"Though it was fun watching you try to kill the old man," Teech continued, either ignoring or oblivious to Ace's piercing glare. Ace suspected the former.

Ace's cheeks turned red as he remembered his several attempts on White Beard. The laughter of the crew as he was sent sailing through the cabin's wall. Sometimes he even went right off the ship and into the water which resulted in someone from the White Beard's side rescuing him before he drowned. If he actually had been a threat to White Beard none of them would have found him so funny. Which made his previous attitude all the more embarrassing. And Jimbei actually tried to stop me from seeing White Beard. I wonder if he wasn't trying to spare my feelings by defeating me himself rather than protecting White Beard like he claimed. I'm sure Shanks had a good laugh after I left his camp, as well. Dark thoughts. Ace shook his head to clear it then went to take a sip of his ale, only to discover the mug empty. He had spilled it all when Teech hit him.

"Oh you ran out," said Teech with an innocent expression. Ace thought it was rather miraculous that Teech could even possess a passable expression of innocence. The man's face was the very picture of scumbag. Every time Ace looked at him he wondered what it was he was plotting at that moment. Ace couldn't put his finger on why he was on edge around Teech. He hadn't done anything to Ace or even to stand out from the others. He was so far removed from being anything exceptional that it was only this feeling of wrongness that had gotten Teech's name into Ace's memory so quickly. An old-timer of the crew that didn't seem to have a shred of ambition.

"Let me get you another round," Teech continued, reaching for Ace's mug. Ace bristled but couldn't think of a single reason to refuse him. He was now a White Beard Pirate, there was no reason to distrust a shipmate.

Ace handed over his mug. "I appreciate that." He watched as Teech waddled away. He probably would move faster if he just rolled like the giant barrel that he is, thought Ace uncharitably. I wonder how far he'd tumble if I kicked him in the ass right now. Ace squelched the idea. Attacking a senior member of the crew without cause would most likely get him trounced by everyone else. He was the newbie, the bottom of the pecking order, and he had to take his hazing like a man. In time he would gain enough notoriety on the ship that the others would respect him but right now he was just the upstart super rookie that White Beard had taken a liking to even as he crushed him into the ground along with all his dreams and ambitions.

Ace caught himself. His thoughts were going dark again. It had been several weeks since Ace had challenged the legendary pirate resulting in his complete and total defeat and enforced recruitment to the White Beards. But it was only yesterday that he decided to take the mark after his conversation with Marco. Earlier today, they had gotten him on the table and went to work. Ace crossed his arms as he rolled his shoulders. The roar of insulted nerves had dulled to a pulsing throb. He sighed. He was going to have to drink a lot more ale if he wanted to sleep tonight. He waited quietly for Teech to return with his mug.

*************

Baltigo...

Dragon's chin rested on his left fist while the fingers of his other hand drummed on the desk at a quick but controlled pace. Before his desk stood Sabo, Koala and Hack. Young Koala had her fists planted on her hips and was glaring at her contemporary, Sabo who stood at the center of the trio. The fishman, Hack, simply stood with arms crossed to the right, his eyes focused on something on the other side of the wall that only he could see. An obvious attempt to avoid Dragon's thunderous expression, which Dragon didn't mind. Hack wasn't the one he was angry with. Sabo stood between the two, sheepish smile on his face, his hands clasped behind his back looking like a naughty school boy caught skipping class instead of one of the revolutionary army's elite fighters. Dragon continued to drum his fingers without saying a word. 

Sabo shifted his weight, withering slightly at his commander's gaze. He knew what was coming. Dragon needn't say anything. Sabo had heard the lecture so many times that he had it memorized. His brain played its own recording in the silent room for only him to hear.

"We revolutionaries guide the oppressed people is freeing themselves from tyrants. We do not lead them much less own the entire campaign single handed! We do them no favors when we do this. They must have the confidence to stand on their own or else they will fall victim to a new tyrant. We cannot have them be dependent on us!"

Sabo shifted again and Dragon narrowed his eyes. Despite the repeated lectures, chastising and even confinement, Sabo still wasn't taking it to heart. This time he had charged a fortress that contained the royal army alone, tore down the gate with his bare hands then proceeded to blow apart the fortress with the dragon fist techniques that he had mastered last year. Sabo was a dedicated warrior and one of their strongest but he needed to learn restraint. It did their cause no good if Sabo went overboard during a mission. Dragon sighed and Sabo flinched.

"You got carried away again," stated Dragon in a soft voice. He had found long ago that a soft voice could be even more effective than a yell when it came to scolding subordinates. It made them listen.

"Sorry," whispered Sabo. He at least didn't offer any excuses are try to justify his defiance but he had been apologizing too often and too readily of late. Dragon was certain that Sabo would continue to let his passions rule him and not follow orders. Sabo cared too much about the people he fought with. He couldn't stand to let them fight and die when he could spare them all that pain by fighting in their place but, in the long run, he wasn't helping them.

"You're always sorry yet you never change," said Dragon. He raised his head and shuffled the papers of Sabo's report, placing it to the side. "I'm going to have you remain here. You can help Martha in the kitchen."

"What?!" yelled Sabo in shock. "That's kid's work!"

"Perhaps peeling a few thousand potatoes like you did in the past will remind you the benefits of taking small, deliberate actions and not large, flashy ones." Dragon looked up at the outraged young man. Sabo was a passionate man but he was also prideful. Being taken out of fieldwork and made to do chores like when he was still in training as a boy was a blow to his ego. Sabo's fists were clenched and raised. His teeth bared and eyes flashing. "You're dismissed," Dragon added coolly. 

Sabo spun, snapping, "Fine!" and stormed out of the room, Koala running after him. Probably to console him, he thought before turning his attention to Hack who had remained behind.

Hack hesitated then glanced at Dragon. "His heart is in the right place. This only happens because he cares too much."

"If that wasn't the case I would have to take more drastic action," Dragon replied, folding his hands before him.

"Is this because of what Helgram has said?"

"..." Dragon glanced at the door Sabo had disappeared through. Helgram was one of his advisors. With his commanders scattered and in hiding, Dragon had to rely on less powerful staff to get the day to day missions done. What was said between him and his advisors was supposed to be just between them, however, it seemed that was not the case if Hack was bringing it up. He would have to discuss that with them. 

Helgram had stated just before this latest mission that Sabo was in the same class as a commander and needed to be put away until the day for the big mission came. Dragon understood what he meant. His commanders were all people of extreme power and capabilities that he couldn't use in the small revolutions he orchestrated across the globe. Like Sabo it would be too easy for them to bring down a corrupt ruling party all by themselves. That was why Helgram suggested Sabo needed to be ordered to go to ground and await the summons. However, the commanders were older veterans that knew how to ignore current events and wait. Sabo was barely a man and still impatient and full of fire. He would not sit quietly on some island waiting for a call that could take years to come. If Dragon didn't keep the young man close he was likely to go off and do something on his own and possibly endanger the entire Revolutionary Army's goals. Though, none of it would be deliberate. It would just be a natural consequence of Sabo acting on his own.

Dragon needed Sabo to stay at headquarters where he could be supervised and controlled to a certain extent. At least until he matured a bit more. Dragon sighed again.


	2. Compromised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dragon's agent is discovered and he tries to get critical information out before he's caught.

OK Ori Island in New World…

He ran. The boots of his pursuers echoed up from down the hall behind him, but they were distant. If not for the single path of the hallway allowing for no potential detours to confuse his pursuit, he would have lost them by now. Timothy clutched his report to his chest, he couldn’t afford to lose a single sheet of paper. What the World Government was attempting was madness and, if successful, would be the doom of the Revolutionary Army. He had to get his report to Dragon no matter the cost.

It was unfortunate that he had been discovered. He had worked for over a year, ignoring the plight of slaves and prisoners, for the sake of the mission. Hearing just enough to know he needed to remain longer, but never enough to know what was going on. A few days ago, he had learned that Amerdan Mary, the infamous “Typhoid Mary”, had been summoned to the island.

He knew it meant something. Something big. Something dangerous. 

Mary was a devil fruit user and its ability was a particularly nasty one, the Plague Plague Fruit. She could create any disease known, even unheard of ones and, unlike regular diseases, they could not be cured as long as she was conscious unless she released her control over the disease vectors. The only upside was that the diseases she created could not be passed from person to person. Only someone touched by her could be infected.

He needed to know what Doc Holiday, the lead scientist on OK Ori Island, was planning that required Typhoid Mary. So he had gambled. He had snuck into the filing room where peons, such as he, were not allowed, only scientists and their assistants. He had opened the filing cabinets and began searching among the labels trying to find anything that might hint at what Doc Holiday was trying to develop.

The file “Dragonkin” had stood out to him. The World Government had tried in the past to recreate the race of dragons and giants in a manner that they could control but it had always ended in failure. If the file was indicating another attempt on the dragon race that might be something. The first attempts had been disasters. The scientists had gotten a living product twice but could not control the creatures they created, making them useless for the World Government's purposes. So they had been abandoned. He couldn’t see how Holiday would succeed when control was the most important thing and the one thing they weren’t able to get. He almost dismissed it for this very reason, but heeded the small voice within that told him to take a look anyway and pulled it out to read. 

The word “Dragonkin” was different from “Dragon”. A dragonkin would be a thing that was related to dragons but not a dragon itself. This was a new approach that might have more success depending on how they intended to accomplish that. He opened the “Dragonkin” file, skimmed its contents then gagged.

Timothy needed to report to Dragon immediately. Doc Holiday was as mad as mad could be, but that didn’t stop him from being the best in the study and application of genetic manipulation. If what had been said in the file was even remotely possible…  
However, in his haste to copy the relevant information, he had failed to pay attention to the time. An assistant had arrived and caught him in the filing cabinet. After a brief attempt to catch and silence the assistant failed, the alarm was raised. Now he was fleeing for his life, desperate to get to a communication station to send out the report before he was captured. He knew he could not escape the island. There was only one port due to the high cliffs that acted as a natural defense and prison for the island. The alert was out and he would not be able to get to a ship without being spotted.

He had discovered a second opening in the cliff wall, but it was tiny and perilous. He would have needed to anchor his escape craft by it for it to be any use to him now and, to keep from giving it away, he had not. It was just sea beyond that point. Useless to him, but it would be enough for an infiltration should someone arrive. 

He entered the room where the den den mushi were located, tackling the man on duty there. With one swift motion he broke the man’s neck with a strike to the back of it then turned to shut the door. He barricaded the entrance as best he could, then rushed to the transponder snails and began dialing, frantic.

Timothy should have had his own transponder snail but the head of OK Ori was the paranoid type. He had every person that came to work on the island searched for just such devises. Timothy had remained on the island knowing that one he reported to Dragon he would have to leave. Now he was paying for not finding some way to smuggle a den den mushi in. Not having one of his own meant that he could not report from just any hiding place. He could only report from this one communication's room. He knew they would realize where he was going. He knew he wasn’t safe here. He knew this would be where he would die. He accepted this as the natural consequence of his carelessness and for the sake of the greater cause.

The snail came to life as the call was picked up. The person on the other demanding the pass code before he could do anything else. A precaution to make certain that the speaker really was a member of the Revolutionary Army but, at this moment, it was eating up what little time he had remaining. The door thumped then banged as guards tried to force it open.

Finally confirmed, he spoke into the receiver, “I have no time left! Take this report and give it to Dragon. It is a matter of the utmost importance!”

“Timothy?” came the confused response from the other end, the voice having lost its gruff, authoritative tone now that the speaker was off script. It sounded like Ramon. Why did it have to be Ramon of all people on duty that day?  
The door jolted open a few inches.

Timothy didn’t say another word, he just began to feed the papers one at a time into the device. He prayed Ramon would do his job and not let what was about to happen interfere.

The door exploded open and Timothy was thrown by the blast, his report papers scattering all over the room. He sat up, blood dripping from his forehead. He glanced at the scattered papers that were now burning as they floated back to the ground, wondering how much had made it through. The report had been something he had written and revised as he worked, detailing the goings on in the facility should the Revolutionary Army need to invade. The critical information of his discovery was on the last two pages. He knew he hadn’t finished scanning but had the fourth page, the second-to-last page, been one of the ones that made it? If Dragon could at least get that first part he would know what he was dealing with. The details of the experiment were on the last page.  
He looked toward the door. Standing in the smoking frame was a woman in a long dust colored trench coat and broad brimmed hat. Long blonde hair billowed around her head and a mad grin split her face. He gritted his teeth at the sight of her half crazed smile.

“Calamity Jane,” he hissed.

“Now what could you be doing, Timothy?” she said. Her blues shifted when she noticed one of the burning pages and snatched it out of the air. She beat the fire out then glanced at the sheet. There wasn’t much left and her face screwed up in annoyance and confusion. “What’s this, Timothy?”

“Allow me,” said a soft tenor from behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder and snorted. “Why should I, Bunnykins?”

“Because I’m asking nicely,” said the man, if his voice was any indication of gender, behind her.

Jane sneered and held the piece of paper higher. “No.”

“Give it to him, Jane,” said another man, his rich baritone causing Timothy to gasp in recognition. Holiday.

Jane sniffed then stepped into the room and handed the burnt page over to the newcomer.

Timothy stared, he had never seen this person before. He looked like a zone type devil fruit user caught in the in-between state that all zoan types had as one of their phases. His head was that of a jack rabbit complete with long ears, the hands that peaked out of his long white laboratory coat were more similar to paws than human hands but he wore boots like a regular man. However, Timothy had never seen a rabbit that looked as evil as this one did. He didn’t think it was possible for rabbits to look evil. The man’s long ears twitched as he looked the page over.

“You were careless, Jane,” he chided her in his soft tenor. She opened her mouth to say something, but he continued before she could speak, “However...” He glanced at the den den mushi, the receiver off the cradle and at Timothy. “It seems you were appropriately careless.” Jane closed her mouth and smirked It seemed she thought she had scored a victory and was now gloating, though Timothy couldn’t think of what she was victorious of. The rabbit walked over to Timothy and held up the page to him.   
Timothy froze, his breath catching in his throat. There was only one word readable on the damaged page, “Dragonkin”. Of all the words on that page that could have survived the scorching it had to be the one that identified what he had been sending out. He met the green eyes of the rabbit.

“You seem to have found something interesting,” said the rabbit. “The assistant found you going through the files but had no idea what it was you were searching for. And now it seems I found what it was.” He let the page float down to the floor. The rabbit then gripped Timothy in his left paw and held out his right before the man’s face. “Now, just who were you speaking with?” 

Electricity danced between the nails of the rabbit’s right paw and Timothy gasped. What was this man? He had never heard of a rabbit that could produce electricity among the myth types. He had never heard of a rabbit myth zoan for that matter either. However, here was the unbelievable reality before him.

Timothy closed his mouth and stared defiantly at the rabbit. The rabbit said nothing as he jabbed Timothy’s side with the electrified claws. Timothy screamed then gasped when the shocks ended. He glared at the rabbit in defiant silence. He would not yield. If Dragon was to have any hope of thwarting Doc Holiday, they couldn’t know who would be coming.

Twice more he was shocked, but Timothy just endured it. He could feel his heart racing and knew the shocks would end with his death soon. The rabbit knew it too and he sighed in frustration. He wasn’t the careless type it seemed. Timothy regretted that. If the rabbit had killed him now there would no longer be any need to worry about giving away secret information to the enemy. He didn’t know what they planned for him next, but he feared what they would do to get him to talk. They had a lot of drugs on site after all and no one would complain about the torture of a prisoner. Timothy wondered if an opportunity to kill himself would present itself before he broke.

“I salute your resolve, you and your contact,” said the rabbit.

Timothy stared, not comprehending.

“The line is still connected,” the rabbit said, answering his unspoken question.

Timothy hissed. Why hadn’t the fool hung up the moment it was revealed he had been caught?! Dammit Ramon!

“I’ll do it for you.” The rabbit reached behind him and put the receiver back in its cradle. Once the line was closed, the rabbit said, “I can hazard a guess as to who you work for actually. Mere industrial espionage does not require this level of resolve and the government is fully aware of my activities and projects. So there is no need for them to send one of their own to spy.” He let that hang in the air for a moment then finished, “You are a revolutionary.”

Timothy kept his face neutral as his mind panicked. His projects?! What does he mean his projects? Aren’t these Holiday’s projects? Who is this man?! This was not good. If they targeted the wrong man it would be a disaster for the Revolutionary Army. Taking down the wrong scientists would allow the World Government to continue without missing a beat and worse the Revolutionary Army wouldn’t even realize they had missed until it was too late.

“I don’t think you were able to send all of your report to Dragon,” the rabbit continued. “But I wonder at your urgency and how well it was conveyed. With what I permitted them to overhear I doubt they will ignore this place. I wonder whom they will send to rescue you, to learn what it is you know and how it affects them?”

Timothy choked as he realized how much worse things were. This man had just laid a trap to lure in his comrades. Forget targeting the wrong scientists, if they came now they would be captured and added to his experiments. Possibly even used to gather more intel about the Revolutionary Army and sabotage Dragon’s mission. Timothy couldn’t believe how easily it had been done as well. The rabbit had made sure the revolutionaries would come with just a few well chosen phrases. Why couldn’t Ramon have hung up when the door blew? Why did he listen in for so long? 

As Timothy’s mind reeled with the gravity of the situation, the rabbit spoke again but to someone behind him. “Will you be able to make use of this, Holiday?”

Timothy looked past him, saw the shadow of a man and paled, Holiday. Cold brown eyes glittered with anticipation even as his voice remained casual. “I can make use of any materials you provide me. Which project do you wish me to prioritize?”  
“The revival project,” said the rabbit as he casually drove a dagger into Timothy’s side.

Timothy gasped as the blade slid between his ribs and through his heart. He realized then the depths of the mistake the the revolutionaries had made. They believed Doc Holiday was the mad scientist in charge of the inhuman experiments going on here, but it was really this man. Doc Holiday was just one of his underlings. This rabbit man was in charge of it all. These were his projects. His ideas. And he had just invited the revolutionaries to come so that he could get more subjects to test on while simultaneously robbing the Revolutionary Army of some of its top fighters.

“He will be test subject 2871, let’s see if he lasts longer than his predecessors,” said the rabbit. 

As the cold of death filled his being, Timothy regretted his many errors that had led to this and his inability to warn his comrades of the danger.

************

Briar stared down at the corpse of the revolutionary. Jane snickered and Holiday stepped to the side, motioning for two of the guards to take the body away.

“Crockett, see that security is increased. I imagine we are going to have visitors here shortly and I want them captured with minimum disruption to our work,” said Briar in his soft tenor. The dark haired man standing in the hall, who sported a raccoon fur hat, nodded then left.

Holiday watched as the guards left with the body then turned to regard Briar. “Not that I don’t mind being given the chance to acquire more specimens, but do you think this is really a good idea?” he asked. “One of those revolutionaries is a troublesome sort, a protégé of Dragon’s.”

“You mean the one called Sabo? Wouldn’t he be a fine catch to try out are latest version of the transmutation serum on. Once Mary provides us with the virus we need to begin formulating it,” said Briar.

“Well I just hope she doesn’t bring us her own trouble,” said Doc Holiday. “You know how she’s prone to that. She is a rather impulsive creature.”

“She does love to make new diseases doesn’t she?” Briar’s long ears twitched and he smirked.

“And she loves to try them out. It is a long way from South Blue. She may be itching to try out a few new strands she developed to pass the time.”

“Let’s hope the Tirus steers clear of troublesome things until she arrives, then.”

***********

Baltigo…

Ramon stared at the silent den den mushi, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Timothy, you idiot, why did you have to get caught?” he hissed. He held the three pages that had made it across the line before Timothy's communication had been interrupted. The last sentence of the report was incomplete. Timothy purposely wrote his reports with the sentences continuing onto the next page as an indicator that there was more to come. The last sentence had alluded to him finding something important, but it ended without revealing what.

An incomplete report that signaled something terrible and a compromised agent. Ramon wiped his eyes and turned to head to Dragon’s office. He needed to tell their leader the news and let him decide what to do about it. 


	3. Typhoid Mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr Mary decides to have a little fun with White Beard's crew.

Somewhere in New World…

Dolphins surfed the wake of the Tirus as she plowed through the waves, her sails filled to capacity with the stiff wind that carried her along. The blue on white seagull flag flapping at the top of the mast proudly proclaiming her status as a vessel of the World Government’s Navy.

A woman stood on the deck looking out to sea. She was a dumpy body type with brown curls tied back in a high ponytail. She looked harmless almost maternal as she stood there in her blue ankle length dress. However, the crew and Marines were keeping their distance. She didn’t care, enjoying the solitude and just gazing out to sea. It gave her time to think and to fiddle with her formulas mentally. She needed to be ready for Doc Holiday when she arrived on OK Ori Island. It had been two months since she was summoned and she was eager to get started on this new and interesting project.

She turned her face up when a call came from the crow’s nest.

“Ship off the starboard bow!”

She cast her gaze in the direction the watchman indicated and saw a speck on the horizon.

“Whose?” called the captain as men began to gather. In these seas it was a fifty-fifty chance of being a pirate ship. Most wouldn’t bother a marine vessel but some pirates were that crazy or that stupid.  
Or that powerful.

“It’s… It’s the Moby Dick!” came the terrified response.

The Moby Dick, the personal ship of one of the most terrifying men to sail the seas, White Beard. The greatest of the four Yonko. The King of the Sea, or so he was called by others, great men rarely gave themselves titles.

“Turn to port, avoid contact with White Beard,” ordered the captain. An unsurprising move. The Marines weren’t capable of challenging the legendary pirate who wielded the Tremor Tremor Fruit, an ability with the power to raise tsunamis and wreck whole islands with devastating earthquakes. The Tirus challenging the Moby Dick on her own was out of the question when a fleet had no hope.

Still… White Beard was only a human, not a god.

“No, turn to starboard,” she called with a smile. She felt the scars on her wrist tingle with excitement and anticipation.

“What?” gasped the captain in disbelief.

“Bring me to that ship, I have a few new products I am dying to tryout and that is a ship full of men who have just volunteered to try them,” she said while twirling a fat curl around her finger. 

“Are you mad? Dying is exactly what will happen if we try to challenge him. He’ll kill us before we even get close!”

“Are you volunteering your men, then, Captain?” She smiled up at him, violet eyes glinting with malevolence. Several of the men on deck, already standing more than fifteen feet away, took a few more steps back.

The captain gritted his teeth. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. His ship would surely be sunk if they challenged White Beard, but it would be instant compared to the slow death promised by her. He snarled, “As you wish, Doctor Mary.” He then turned to his men and called, “Head to starboard, prepare to engage.”

Mary turned her attention on the distant Moby Dick as the Marines scrambled to ready the ship for battle and her smiled grew into a wide grin. 

**********

Ace lounged on the yardarm near the Moby’s Dick’s crow’s nest. He was dozing, lulled by the late afternoon wind and the quiet peace of waves breaking on the hull of the ship far below. A subtle shift, too quiet and small to be consciously noticed but any true warrior would detect even when asleep, intruded on his awareness. Malicious intent. 

Ace opened his eyes and glanced out to sea. There he saw a Marine vessel heading straight toward them. The ship was approaching from the direction of the setting sun; it would be impossible for anyone on deck to notice it. It was already very close, the reflecting light having hidden its approach until that moment. From his angle the shadow it was casting was finally visible. 

At first Ace stared, it didn’t seem real. This was a lone Marine vessel. Convoys five strong avoided this ship. It seemed bizarre and inconceivable that a single ship was coming their way. So confused by the unbelievable sight, Ace hesitated to raise the alarm. It wasn’t until the first cannonball was lobbed at the Moby Dick that he realized it was no illusion of the late afternoon light.

Ace shouted, but it was far too late to be of any use to the men below. The cannonballs crashed into the side of the ship, damaging the gun ports, preventing return fire. The Moby Dick was a sturdy ship, she wouldn’t sink over a few cannonballs, but the damaged gun ports and cannons would make it unable to defend itself. If the attacking ship just sat there, after taking out the gun ports, and hammered away, the Moby Dick would eventually take fatal damage.

Of course, the crew wasn’t going to sit idly by and let it happen. The men who had been lazing about on deck leapt to their feet when the first shot landed, the lack of warning causing a brief moment of panic as they scrambled to figure out who and where the attacker was.

Ace kicked himself for his failure to warn his crew but froze shock. The ship wasn’t stopping to broadside them again. Instead it pulled up right alongside the Moby Dick and a woman in blue leapt across to their deck. Ace rushed to get down to the main deck, every instinct screaming danger.

A single person boarding an enemy ship as boldly as this person had to be powerful and most likely a devil fruit user. It was anyone’s guess what it could be, but it must have been something terrible for her to have this confidence.

Several men launched themselves at her with swords raised. She easily sidestepped them, touching them in passing. The men turned to face her again, but she was moving toward the next group. A foolish move to turn her back on armed men even if she had the observational haki needed to avoid their attacks. However, the first group she avoided suddenly collapsed to their knees, coughing or vomiting where they doubled over on the deck.

She rushed through the crowd and everywhere she went, men crumpled. On the crowded deck, guns were not an option. She had observational haki, she would simply dodge their attacks and the stray shots would hit comrades instead.   
She laughed as she turned her attention on White Beard, rushing toward him and felling every person who got between her and him.

“Oyaji!” Ace screamed, firing off his fire fist while he dropped the last fifteen feet to the deck. He had to check his power, less he blow a hole right through the hull of the ship, but the splash of flame was enough to cause the woman to stop her rampage. He landed between her and White Beard. White Beard had been reaching over his shoulder for his halberd and froze when Ace appeared before him.

Ace raised his fists and let fire dance across his shoulders and arms. He didn’t know what power she was using to drop the crew like she had only that it appeared she needed to make contact to do it. So he needed to keep her from touching him. He could use his flames to drive her off the ship. She could also be shot by their gunslingers.

“What did you do to my comrades?” demanded Ace.

“Nothing much. I just infected them with some nasty viruses,” said the woman.

“Viruses?” Ace had never heard the word before.

“A simpleton, huh. How sad!” she scoffed.

“What you say?!” Ace snapped, his fire flaring in response to his temper.

“Ace! She must be the one called Typhoid Mary! She has the Plague Plague Fruit. It’s one that has the power to infect people with disease. Don’t let her touch you!” cried the ship’s doctor from behind him. Ace recognized him by his voice. He had been staying close to White Beard whose health was deteriorating with age.

“I know,” said Ace, gritting his teeth. So that was what was happening to his comrades. Whomever she touched she was infecting with a deadly or incapacitating disease. Knowing now what she was doing didn’t change his earlier assessment, it only added more urgency to staying out of her reach.

“Ace, don’t be reckless,” said White Beard.

Ace growled. He knew that, too, but he didn’t dare talk back to White Beard. He waited. Now that she had stopped moving, and with those around her on the ground, he was certain the ship’s snipers and sharpshooters could take her out even with her haki. The shots would safely pass over the heads of the downed crewmen. To use his flames would be a bit more tricky. In order to avoid burning the men or lighting the ship on fire should it over shoot by too much he would have to really dial it back and Ace wasn’t that good with fine tuned control just yet. Fire was hard to control and he had had the ability for less than a year.

She held up her hands and Ace noticed blood on them. Drops fell from her fingers and wrists. Was she injured? When did that happen? He was certain that she had avoided all of their attacks so far. So how?

She smiled and Ace hissed with realization. There were more crewmen down than those that had actually been within arm’s reach of her. Her power affected anyone touched by her blood not just her skin, meaning distance was no barrier to her. She had flung droplets of her blood at the ship’s gunman, dropping them before they could get a clean shot.

Not everyone was down, but none could approach her. Anyone targeting her would become a target for her blood spray.

White Beard had come to that same conclusion.

“Withdraw, Ace,” said the old pirate.

“No!” snapped Ace. “I won’t let her get near you, Oyaji.”

“Ace!”

“Such fire, you’ll make a nice specimen,” said Mary. She snapped her hand and blood droplets flew toward him. Ace flared his fire and dodged to the left. Most of the drop flew harmlessly past him and burned to nothing as they passed through his firewall, raised to prevent a single drop from reaching White Beard behind him. 

However, one tiny drop grazed his shoulder before it turned to ash and sloughed off in less than a second due to Ace’s defensive flames. He launched a counter attack as he leapt to the side aiming high to avoid hitting his shipmates. She jumped back, took a moment to reassess her chances as White Beard stood halberd in hand, and rushed back to the ship. 

Ace rushed after her, instincts telling him it would be bad to just let her leave without defeating her, now that she had infected the crew. Some devil fruit abilities didn’t end until the user decided to end them or they were dead or unconscious. Mary glanced at him over her shoulder as she leapt over downed crewmen and smirked. She jumped over the railing of the Moby Dick and landed on the deck of the Marine ship.

Ace moved to follow and continue this on her ship, confident he could handle a few Marines, but Marco appeared from nowhere and caught him before he could throw himself over the railing.

“Don’t, Ace!” cried Marco before crumpling into a fit of bloody coughs. Ace could have easily broken free of Marco’s grip at that moment but his concern and respect for the man stopped him.

Once Mary was onboard, the ship turned and fled. As it retreated, she called back, “If you find yourself in need of a cure, White Beard, come seek me out on OK Ori Island. Don’t wait too long! Coffins are expensive.” She laughed as the ship vanished into the twilight gloom.


	4. Ace's Resolve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace volunteer's to go after Mary to save the White Beard pirates from her plague.

Ace slammed his fist on the railing in frustration then turned and knelt beside Marco. The first division commander had gotten his cough under control and was merely panting from the exertion. Ace adjusted Marco’s arm until it was over his shoulders enabling Marco to remain standing as they walked over to where everyone was gathering on the deck. The ship’s doctor and several helpers who hadn’t been infected were running around to try to give aid to the ailing crew members.

“I may have erred in judgment just now. I probably should have hit that ship and trusted the Moby Dick to remain afloat rather than let her escape,” said White Beard. Ace grimaced. If White Beard used his power he could have sunk the ship but the backlash would have disturbed the ocean and possibly triggered a tsunami. With so many men down, the Moby Dick might not have been able to handle the wave. She could have rolled and dumped everyone into the sea. A fatal outcome for many onboard. It was probably the only decision the old pirate could have made but Ace understood the frustration. 

“She invited us to where she was heading,” said Thatch. The fourth division commander had not been hit by Mary’s attacks and now helped to gather the sick into one place for easier treatment. “It has to be some kind of trap.”  
“Agreed. She wants us to go to OK Ori Island, unfortunately we may have to now that she’s escaped,” said White Beard.

Ace gently set Marco down on the deck. As soon as the first division commander was no longer leaning on him a fist collided with his face and sent him tumbling. Several shouts went up as Ace sat up and rubbed his offended cheek. The flash of weakness that had overcome him as well as the physical contact with his logia body meant only one thing, sea prism. Rory stood over him with his sea prism brass knuckles in place. The perfect instrument for fighting devil fruit users when he himself had no haki ability.

“What the fuck were you doing, Fire Fist?” snarled Rory, his gray eyes glinting in rage. Rory and Ace got along about as well as fire and ice. The man had joined the White Beard pirates two years before Ace but he was just a regular crew member. Another sword for the ship and nothing more. He had not been a captain on his own ship, he had not had any specific job on that or this ship, he had no devil fruit ability and he couldn’t use haki of any kind. A very ordinary crewmember.

“Rory!” called White Beard.

“You were the one on watch! So what the fuck were you doing when that fucking ship was coming at us? Huh?” Rory shouted. Everyone became quiet.

Ace couldn’t answer. He had messed up and he knew it. Humiliated, he lowered his eyes unable to meet Rory’s angry ones. He had no right to fight back. All this was his fault. He gritted his teeth in anger.

“Bastard!” Rory spat and he raised his fist to punch Ace again. Ace braced for the blow, his guilt wouldn’t let him defend himself. He had screwed up. He had screwed up royally. There were few ways one could screw up worse than this. This happened because he hadn’t called the warning when he first saw the ship. He had no excuse for not doing it. He had lingered on the possibility of it being a mere illusion caused by the late afternoon sun for too long. He should have called the warning regardless of whether it had been or not. People would have been annoyed, probably teased him for the next week for seeing things, but no one would have been mad for calling a false alarm at such a tricky time of day.

Rory’s blow never landed. Thatch had caught the man’s arm. He glared at his subordinate. “Stop it! This does nothing to resolve the problem facing us now.”

Rory snarled but lessened the tension in his arm. Thatch released him and Rory stalked off but not before letting fly a glob of spit at Ace. It splattered against the young man’s cheek. Ace felt his anger rise but he deserved worse so restrained his reaction to merely wiping it off his face without comment.

Thatch reached a hand down toward Ace. Ace looked at the offered hand and bit his lip as various emotions weld up in him. “I’m sorry,” whispered Ace. “I saw the ship but I thought it was a trick of the light. I should have called it anyway. This is all my fault.”

Thatch sighed and said, “I can understand the doubt you had and we couldn’t even see the ship from the deck because of the sun. We all make mistakes, Ace, just don’t repeat them.” 

Ace placed his hand on his face. This was one mistake that could cost his comrades their lives. He would rather had been punched and cursed not forgiven. It would have been so much easier to deal with. Thatch sighed again then grabbed Ace’s elbow and pulled the young man to his feet. 

Ace felt the eyes of the entire ship on him and he hunched his shoulders defensively. It was then he remembered the drop that hit his shoulder and quickly checked the area but nothing, not even ash, marked the skin. Perhaps he had imagined it, he certainly wasn’t feeling ill, just lousy.

Thatch noticed the motion. “You okay, Ace?”

“Yeah, just fine.”

White Beard was speaking to their ship’s doctor. “Can you handle this?”

“Not without knowing what she infected them with,” replied the doctor. “All I can do is treat the symptoms and support them until their own bodies kick it. Though, with viruses that is about all you can do anyway. I’m more concerned that this is devil fruit derived and may not behave like it should. I don’t know if it is contagious and the whole ship is in danger or if it can be treated at all. From the way she talked I fear the later most of all.”

“She may have been bluffing to get us to follow. With everyone down this would be a great time to attack us,” said Thatch. Ace flinched. “We can avoid further trouble easily but if we chase after her, she’ll be able to set up an ambush at OK Ori Island and there wouldn’t be much we could do about it.”

“I can know with more certainty in a few days whether or not they can recover on their own.”

“What a bother. We could be playing into her hands either way,” said White Beard. He looked over his downed crew. “If the later is true, a few days may be too long. If the former… we can all be ill by the time we reach OK Ori Island and then be ambushed. This whole thing could have been one elaborate trap.”

“Which Ace merrily sprung for us,” sneered Rory. As if Ace needed that spelled out to him.

“Enough!” snapped White Beard. Rory swallowed and fell silent. Thatch just glared at him. Many of the crew were getting annoyed with him as well.

“Oyaji, let me go to OK Ori,” said Ace, desperate to make it right. “I’ll defeat Mary while everyone waits here on the ship safely away from the island.”

“That’s way too dangerous!” said Thatch.

“If it’s the former option, you’ll be falling ill and trapped alone and vulnerable on an Marine occupied island,” said White Beard. “That place is a Government facility. You’ll die or be captured without throwing a single punch.”

“Better one man than the whole crew,” argued Ace. This is my fault, after all. I should be the one to risk everything rather than anyone else. “If the scenario is the later then time is already working against us. We need to break the devil fruit curse so that everyone can recover. The longer we wait the harder it will be to overcome the disease once we do act since they will be getting weaker by the day.”

“Ace, it would still be wiser to call upon our allies to raid the facility since it is likely to be well guarded,” said White Beard. “You will not be able to march on that facility on your own and take down Mary without being caught, even with your devil fruit abilities.”

“This is my screw up! No one should die for of my mistakes!” snapped Ace finally voicing his thoughts. White Beard looked down at him with an unwavering expression. “I’ll go anyway, whether you want me to or not.”

White Beard moved, grabbing Ace’s arm and dragging him forward until he was face to face with the great Yonko. “I can appreciate your desire to correct your mistake but I would be a poor father if I let one of my beloved sons march head long to his own death. This ship is vulnerable and unlike my power, your ability can protect this ship without causing it harm.”

Ace grimaced. “That’s why I can handle that facility. I can do the same without worrying about what’s behind me. Let me go!” White Beard didn’t and he seemed on the verge of ordering Ace locked up until the young man calmed down.

“Oyaji, I think Ace has a point,” said Teech, breaking into the intense stare down going on between White Beard and Ace. 

He had also avoided infection, a small miracle considering his body type was all broadside. Ace wondered how he had managed that since he was more melee fighter than sniper. If he had been defending the ship like the others, he should have been in the thick of it. Ace clamped down on those thoughts. He had no right to criticize anyone else. Teech could have been elsewhere when the fighting started and only arrived after Mary was retreating. 

“If the Moby Dick is careful,” continued Teech, “no one will realize our vulnerability for these first few days. We can move the ship so no Marines alerted to what happened can find it. If someone is to go, now is the time, not a few days from now.”

“I agree,” said Thatch. “I say we pick a few to go with Ace, since there’s no talking him out of going, and make certain Mary is found and defeated so our comrades can recover quicker. By the time anyone figures out what happened we can be back and everyone healthy again. I have experience in infiltration and as the fourth division commander I can lead this excursion. It would be best for all if I did. Now I think two more coming with us would make this doable. We will take a small boat and head to OK Ori Island and infiltrate the facility. We won’t do anything but find and eliminate Mary and get out as fast as we can.”

“Oyaji, I think this is the best plan we have. We need to take care of Mary sooner rather than later,” said the doctor.

White Beard sighed and released Ace. “If you’re that sure Thatch. Those who are neither infected nor helping with their care prepare to draw lots to decide who will be accompanying Ace and Thatch on this mission.”

The still standing crew members yelled their acknowledgement.

“Thanks,” whispered Ace to Thatch as he rubbed his arm. He wasn’t sure how much more defiance he could have offered White Beard before he cracked and did as he was told.

Thatch patted his shoulder and said, “I know you’re smarting from that error but getting desperate to prove yourself is going to be a big negative. I need you to focus on the goal not on what you have to prove to anyone.”

“It’s my fault. I have to make it up somehow,” repeated Ace. 

“Ace!” Thatch reached over and grabbed the back of Ace’s neck dragging him closer, forcing the young man to look him in the eye. “This attitude isn’t productive. I already told you that all you need to concern yourself with is not repeating your mistakes. Focus on helping your crewmates not on what you can’t change.”

Thatch searched Ace’s face then added in a low voice barely audible, “I know you’re new to the crew, but you are not expendable. Oyaji chose you to be his son. Stop acting like that means nothing.”

Ace lowered his eyes and didn’t say anything and Thatch let him go. Ace took a deep breath and tried to look calm but his thoughts were anything but calm. If Oyaji knew who I really was he wouldn’t have chosen me. None of you would have. That being said, I can’t let them down again. Even if it costs me my life.


	5. Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sabo must peel potatoes for screwing up the nature of his missions... again.

Baltigo…

Sabo angrily but expertly peeled the potatoes in the kitchen as the cooks prepared the midday meal for those stationed at headquarters. He completed his mission but because he didn’t complete it Dragon’s way he was being punished. Sabo didn’t think it was fair. Why did the Revolutionary Army have to hold back when helping a nation to liberate itself? They weren’t sending an army to do the job for the people just a few to get things done. To help organize the already present resistance. To encourage the people to take a stand for the freedom they desired. Why should he hold back and let some of those brave men and women die when he could take care of the trouble himself?

He understood Dragon’s reasons for wanting to let the people stand on their own since the Revolutionary Army couldn’t remain to protect them. But when the people were already trying so hard and had come so far on their own why leave them to struggle. Once the revolution had occurred there was little reason to believe they wouldn’t be able to handle it. All he wanted to do was help them get over that last obstacle with the fewest causalities possible. If more of the local revolutionaries remained alive the easier it would be to set up a new order that wouldn’t be so oppressive.

Sabo was aware of Helgram, Dragon’s top in-house advisor, who was constantly speaking against his going out on missions for this very reason. Helgram let Sabo know every time they crossed paths that he thought the young man too willful and too dangerous to the overall mission with his selfish behavior. Sabo snorted as he tossed the skinless spud into the bucket with the others. Picking up another to peel, he grumbled. He wasn’t being selfish. He did let the locals fight instead of running over and doing the entire revolution himself. He got them organized, he got them armed, he got them trained, he got them thinking about what came after. (Many revolutionaries did not think about what came after the fall and that was why people like Dragon were in charge and not them.)

Sabo tried not to think too many bad thoughts of Helgram who was just trying to help Dragon keep things on task. Having people around who could offer different perspectives on situations and listening and weighing their advise was the mark of a good leader. It was when one surrounded himself with yes-men and did whatever without thought to the consequences of others that corruption and tyranny reigned. It wasn’t anything personal on Helgram’s part, he just had a different view on how things should be. Sabo had heard that Helgram was another former Marine, and one of significant rank, that may account for his attitude and world view. Sabo sighed and tossed the finished spud to join the others before moving on to the next.  
The real thorn in Sabo’s side came from a contemporary. Edmond.

He knew Edmond didn’t like him. He didn’t like Edmond either. He and the man were the same age, supposedly. (Sabo didn’t know how old he was since he suffered total amnesia after being critically injured eight years earlier, Dragon had just guessed.) He and Edmond were the top contenders for the coveted spot of being Dragon’s right hand man. They knew to be recognized as Chief of Staff would also mean to be recognized as the leader of the next generation.

The Chief of Staff was to be Dragon’s heir to the organization should something happen to him. The person had to have the same vision and ability to see that vision made a reality not just lead people. It was a coveted spot because of the absolute trust Dragon would have for such a person, granting them the freedom to act on their own without orders on everything but the biggest of missions. Sabo wasn’t interesting in pursuing higher ranks, but he knew from the way others talked that they considered him one of the candidates for the position. 

Sabo did have his supporters but Edmond was definitely more charismatic. Sabo’s way of handling things irked many people. While some of their generation were impressed with Sabo’s feats others had been angered by the way he constantly showed up their fighting instructor, Hack, when he was younger. Some were even envious of his close relationship with Dragon, whom had personally trained him once it was apparent Hack couldn’t teach him anything else. Many figured because of that he was a shoe-in for the top spot. 

Edmond was second best to Sabo in that regards. He was talented and progressed quickly in training, though Dragon had never personally instructed him. When he had progressed beyond Hack ability, Helgram had been the one to take him under his wing. That may have been why he always fulfilled his mission assignments as instructed and never gave Dragon any headaches. He had never once been called to get lectured about screwing up an assignment’s execution. Nor put on kitchen duty. Once he had reached the age where potato peeling was no longer required he had never peeled another potato again, that had been five years ago.

Edmond was definitely the more popular choice for Chief of Staff. Sabo snarled as he sliced off brown potato skins and sent them flying from the excess force he used to cut. He didn’t care about becoming Chief of Staff. He didn’t! Let Edmond have it! No! Don’t let Edmond have it. Let Koala have it. She bossed Sabo around routinely anyway so there would be no change in that dynamic but if Edmond got the spot…

_“Messed up again, Blue Blood? Typical noble, always thinking you know better!”_

_“Go sniff potpourri, Lordling.”_

_“If you don’t have the brains to follow simple orders then go back to your big mansion where there are lots of slaves to help you eat and dress. That way you won’t have to think about anything or do anything that requires an IQ level higher than seventy!”_

_“Kids like you are the worse. You’re born into this life thinking you have all the answers and that the world owes you everything. You make me sick!”_

_“You don’t like your parents? What a brat! At least you had parents!”_

_“You’re such a stuck up, self-entitled bastard!”_

_“When I’m chief, scumbags like you, that can’t follow orders and put their own wants above the cause, won’t be allowed to remain.”_

Definitely Edmond should not be the Chief of Staff. Sabo was insubordinate but Edmond… There was something off about him. He was constantly harping on Sabo’s heritage, something Sabo himself only knew about because Dragon happened to come across him before the incident that robbed him of his memories. He didn’t know who it was that had told Edmond about Sabo being a nobleman’s son but he wished they had kept their mouth shut. Edmond wasn’t the only one that would give him grief about that but he was the nastiest. Worse he never did it when others were around, especially Dragon or Koala. He was always on his best behavior when there were witnesses.

Sabo was certain Dragon would believe him if he told the leader about Edmond’s behavior but that felt too much like tattling. Edmond was his problem. He shouldn’t go crying to the top brass because Edmond said mean things to him. He was certain Edmond was just bluffing anyway. No way would Dragon approve of people being kicked out of the Revolutionary Army just because of a personality clash.

Who’s the entitled one, Edmond? thought Sabo with a growl.

“You’re thinking of Edmond, aren’t you Sabo,” said Martha, the head chef, in her low contralto voice, startling Sabo from his inner thoughts.

“What?” squawked Sabo in surprise. His hand slipped and he yelped when the peeling knife nicked his finger. He dropped the potato he was working on and stuck the bleeding finger in his mouth.

“You only ever get that vigorous in your peeling when Edmond is on your mind. And you have that same expression on your face from when you are speaking to Edmond. So I know you are seeing him in that potato,” she said. The head chef was like a mother to all the younger generation. A round woman with gray hair tied back in a low messy bun and twinkling violet eyes. She looked out for all the folks stationed here but especially the younger generation who were, more often than not, orphans.

Sabo grimaced as Martha bent down to pick up the dropped potato, it was clean of skin but Sabo’s nick had bled on it before he dropped it. She said nothing as she turned to wash it in the sink. She frowned on wasted food. Boiling water would take care of any contaminate factor when she cooked it. And honestly, compared to what they typically ate in the field, a little blood on a potato wasn’t going to cause anyone to be sick.

“Don’t fret so much about Edmond,” she said. “He has the charisma but his attitude is all wrong for a leader. He is too caught up in his own personal problems to see clearly. And he’s manipulative. That’s why Dragon doesn’t pay much attention to him. He’s sees more potential in you than a young man who enjoys tormenting others.”

“I didn’t think he was aware of Edmond’s actions,” muttered Sabo as he examined his injured finger, not sure he liked the revelation.

“There isn’t much that happens on Baltigo that he doesn’t know about,” said Martha as she reached for a small bandage roll and tossed it to him. Sabo caught it as she added, “Now stop bleeding in my kitchen.”

“Hai,” he groaned and dutifully wrapped his finger.

“Milord.”

Sabo yelled and fell backwards off his seat. Akatsuki, a young woman, presumably his age, with long blue-black hair and matching eyes, appeared suddenly while hanging upside down from the ceiling. She was someone he had saved on a previous mission two years ago. She claimed she was a ninja and, because he had saved her life, honor demanded she serve him until her debt had been paid in full. He couldn’t talk her out of it and he had spent hours trying.

“Milord, you need to work on your calm. Your observational haki is still too flimsy,” she said without blinking, while still hanging upside down.

“Will you stop that!” he hissed, looking up from the floor where he’d landed awkwardly. A rope was attached to a hook in the ceiling she was suspended from. It was near the vent for the stove, her point of entry.

Seriously, couldn’t she enter a room the normal way?

“Stop what, Milord?” Though he hated it and it only aggravated the ill-feelings others had for him, he couldn’t get her stop with the whole “milord” nonsense. Every attempt to explain why he didn’t like it ended with her claiming she understood followed by, “milord”. He had given up last year on trying to get her to call him by his name instead. He’d also appreciate it if she would stop surprising him, but she was deaf to those requests as well. He was starting to think she enjoyed his reactions.

He sighed. “Never mind.” Martha chuckled.

Sabo wondered if anyone truly understood the problem with Akatsuki. She was loyal to him and no one else. If her debt was repaid would she leave the Revolutionary Army? And what would she do with the information she had on them once she left? She knew where their headquarters was. She knew the names and faces of several commanders including those that had gone to ground. She knew what missions were being run currently as well as planned ones. (She had a bad habit of poking her nose into everything. Which only made Sabo worry about her future role when she became a free agent.) Not being loyal to Dragon or the cause meant she was a liability but losing her had been impossible. He had tried when she had explained her life debt to him, but she had found her way to Baltigo anyway. Her introduction had added fuel to Edmond’s fire.

_“This is Akatsuki. Apparently she is a ninja that I saved.”_

_“Pleased to meet you. I am my lord’s ninja and will serve him until my debt is repaid or death claims me.”_

_Brief pause as everyone stared in shock at the pair._

_“You fucking noble, Blue Blood! Getting a slave when you are supposed to be protecting freedom!”_

_Wham!  
“Is it all right for me to kick the rude one, Milord?”_

_“You already did! Bitch!”_

_“Far be it for me to stand in your way, Akatsuki. And stop calling me ‘Milord’”_

_Wham!_

_“Thank you, Milord.”_

_“Sigh.”_

_“Cunt!”_

_Wham!_

_“You should probably stop insulting her, Edmond. Your handsome mug is becoming quite the mess.”_

_“Fucking noble dick!”_

_Wham!_

It had been the first time Edmond had dropped the saint act while others were around but Sabo had gotten flak for Akatsuki’s servitude to him until the others finally realized he really hadn’t encouraged it. By that time, Edmond was back to his usual false niceties in public and everyone had forgotten about his lapse, save Akatsuki.

“Milord, should I go and kick Edmond.”

“No, I haven’t actually spoken to him today. I was just brooding because I got in trouble with Dragon again.”

Akatsuki righted herself and alighted on the floor before him as he climbed to his feet. She wasn’t a tall woman, coming to just below his shoulders in height. She looked up at him and said, “Dragon-sama wants you to report to his office. There has been an incident.”

Knowing her, she probably had all the information already. Another one of her bad habits was eavesdropping on Dragon which made people suspicious of her motives, but Dragon was always aware of when she was about so didn’t think it was a problem. Sabo didn’t ask for information on the incident. Dragon would want to brief him himself and he should at least pretend he had no idea Akatsuki was eavesdropping less he get in trouble in her place.

Sabo understood why it would be Akatsuki coming to get him. Dragon had probably just called out to her to fetch him after hearing whatever report he had been given. He just didn’t understand why Dragon was calling on him when he was still effectively grounded from his last mission. Sabo glanced over at Martha who just smiled at him. Maybe there was something to her view that Dragon actually did favor him.

He sighed. He still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

He followed Akatsuki out of the kitchen.


	6. Sabo's Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dragon sends Sabo out on an important mission despite his past screw ups.

Dragon watched as Sabo and Akatsuki filed in. Koala, Hack, Edmond, Helgram and a few others were gathered in the room and these two were the last he was expecting. Once they were in the room and the door was closed Dragon began to speak.

“Earlier today, we received an urgent report from one of our agents, however, it was cut off mid-transmission,” he said. Some of the men began to whisper among themselves. “It is confirmed by the one monitoring the transmission that the agent in question was captured.”

He paused and met the eyes of each man and woman in the room before continuing. He held up the three pages of the report he had received from Ramon. “These pages contain a detailed account of activities occurring on an island in New World known as OK Ori. It is a government facility that is one part mine and one part laboratory. The mine is for a very specific crystal that is believed to be a fuel source for as yet unknown weapon. They use slave labor to mine the crystal. Those reasons alone is enough to send some of our own to rescue the captives and shut down operation on this island. 

“However, there are human experiments going on in the laboratory side of the island. Our comrade has been taken captive and is probably being subjected to those experiments. Unfortunately, while his report hinted at the experiments themselves being dangerous to us, should they find success, the pages containing what those experiments were and what they were trying to achieve did not arrive.

“I need to send a team to first free the slaves, second find our comrade and rescue him if possible, and third discover what these experiments are for.”

Edmond looked startled and asked, “We’re not going to do anything about the mine despite the implication that is fuel for a powerful new weapon?”

“Prioritizing the saving of lives should take precedent over sabotaging the mine. The island is a natural fortress, an ancient volcano long extinct. The entire facility is within its crater so getting on and off will be tricky enough. I can’t imagine one can save the people and shut down the mine when evacuating them will be obvious to those in charge. Also I want to know what type of experiments they are conducting and if possible save those who are being used in such a terrible fashion.

“The trouble is that because it is a government facility getting close will be tricky. A large ship will have to wait off the coast while a smaller craft gets close with a few key members to investigate the island and blind the eyes of the watch so our ship can approach to load the slaves.

“This team will also have to find information on what Holiday, the man in charge of these inhuman projects, is planning so that we can prepare for it or stop it entirely. This team is going to have the hardest task of all for once they commit to any action the others will become exponentially harder. Worse, I fear they will be expecting our arrival as they were overheard questioning our agent prior to the line being cut off.”

Dragon paused as everyone held their breath, waiting for his orders. He knew what he had to say would cause a stir but there was no help for it. There was no one else he could even see being able to succeed in this ludicrous but essential mission. He had never seen odds as terrible as these, but he had faith that he could overcome them which was why had to make the choice.

“That’s why I’m choosing you, Sabo, to lead this mission,” he said.

“Me?” Sabo pointed at himself in stunned disbelief.

“Him?!” cried Edmond also stunned but anger quickly replaced his shock. “Why him?! All he does is cause trouble and not follow orders!”

Dragon heard a few of the others whisper their agreement but his mind was set. “Sabo, I need you to get ready. Pick you team and assemble on the Icarus within the hour. I expect you to brief them on the details.” He handed Sabo the incomplete report so he could better form a plan of attack once aboard his ship. He said to brief his team, but Dragon had a feeling he knew who he would chosen. Only the captain and the crew of the Icarus would need to be briefed as to what their role would be. 

“Understood. Though I don’t think I need to brief too much, since my team is already here,” Sabo said with sheepish grin. He placed his hands on the shoulders of Akatsuki and Koala and then pointed toward Hack.

Dragon smirked at Sabo. Koala sighed but only seemed a little put out. Hack glanced at Dragon and nodded. These two were the few who could put up with Sabo’s poor habits and work around them. For the mission to succeed, he needed people he could trust and depend on and these two, plus Akatsuki, were just the team.

“We’ll head to the ship to help make ready and be gone before the hour is out,” said Sabo. “We’ll discover what Holiday is up to and save the people.”

“I’m counting on you.” With Dragon’s dismissal, Sabo, Koala, Hack and Akatsuki exited the room. The others, with the exception of Helgram and Edmond, also left.

Once gone, Edmond approached Dragon’s desk. “How could you give such an important mission to Sabo? He’s a loose cannon!”

“Edmond,” cautioned Helgram.

“It is precisely for that reason I gave it to him,” replied Dragon raising a hand to forestall any more interference from Helgram. Helgram wanted to reign in his protégé but Dragon wanted to hear what Edmond had to say. It would be easier for him to correct his thought processes if he could know what they were. 

“He can’t follow orders. He doesn’t know how to follow orders. He is always going off and doing his own thing regardless of the objective!” snapped Edmond, slamming his fists on the desk, having ignored Helgram’s warning tone.

Dragon was unfazed by Edmond’s behavior. “He has never failed to complete an objective and, while he may not do things precisely as I would like, there is no malice or selfishness in his actions. He honestly sees what he does as an attempt to make things easier for the people he is helping. That is why I don’t chastise him more.

“In this situation, where anything can happen, where meeting all the objectives may be impossible. I didn’t add sabotaging the mines, despite it being a necessary objective in light of what was revealed about its purpose, because I already know it will be impossible. However, that doesn’t mean it is off the table.”

“Huh?”

Dragon took a deep breath and explained, “Sabo has an ability that is critical to being a good leader. He can calmly assess a situation and adjust to what is needed. He generally has good instincts and he can improvise. Sometimes being bound by orders isn’t a good thing.” Dragon stood up as he spoke and then began to walk toward the balcony. “And, for something like this, merely following orders would guarantee failure because there is no way to know just what is really going on. The report was incomplete. There is no way to plan this with any hope that things will turn out well. Being able to improvise, to think on your feet, will mean the difference between success and failure or at the very least, their survival.”

Dragon looked over his shoulder at Edmond who was now staring down at the desk. He knew Edmond was proud. He knew Edmond hated Sabo. He wondered how Edmond was handling his revelations and insights. 

Edmond was a good fighter, but he was no leader despite fancying himself as such. He was too rigid in his views and too obedient. To him orders were to be followed no matter what and Dragon feared for him. Too many of these types populated the Marines, that was why the Marines could commit so many atrocities and still sleep at night. They were following orders. Edmond was also one who often didn’t think for himself.

Dragon passed a look to Helgram then left the room to clear his head. His Chief of Staff needed to be someone who could take over for him should the worst happened. Edmond was not that man. He knew who he could trust with such a position but he feared the consequences when he finally announced it.

********

Helgram looked over at Edmond. He could understand the frustration the man was feeling. Helgram had always been second to Dragon in everything as well. Even during their time in the Marines, Dragon had outshone him in every way possible. Standing strong on the walls of the city of Altear and refusing to yield to Germa 66 when Helgram had thought it was a lost cause. Facing down the Hellcat pirates when no one else could even touch them when the orders to retreat had been given from on high. Successfully evacuating the citizens of Yrens when their island was on the verge of destruction when the volcano began to erupt and all other boats had refused to go near the island for fear of being caught in the pyroclastic flow. Dragon had been a hero before he had turned on the World Government, still was in Helgram’s opinion and the opinions of many others who knew the man from before.

He made those achievements by not letting himself be constrained by orders and doing what he believed he had to for the sake of the people he protected. Nothing had changed from then, he was still fighting the good fight as he always did. He just fought it away from the World Government’s hypocrisy and corruption. Helgram admired the man for staying the course even as he felt annoyance for his laid back leadership.

Helgram could see how Dragon saw his young self in Sabo. However, the mission of the Revolutionary Army was not only to protect and restore freedom to the people, it’s long term goal was to give them justice for the suffering they and their ancestors had endured at the hands of the corrupt World Government. If they were to complete the mission they would need to gather strong enough allies so when the time came to challenge the World Government head on they would not find themselves standing alone.   
When it came to Sabo, he feared the young man’s willfulness would actually hurt the cause. If the people were not capable of standing against their own tyrants on their own with only the guidance of the Revolutionary Army they could not hope to support the Revolutionary Army in their time of need.

Helgram could understand Dragon’s feelings, he just hoped Dragon was seeing clearly and not just what he wanted to see in Sabo.

Looking at Edmond, though, he saw himself. A young man wanting to do good but always just one step shy of achieving the greatness that would set him apart from everyone else. Ignored by those higher even when he thought he was doing everything right. Helgram knew there was danger in that frustration. Helgram had almost gone down the wrong path while trying to compete with Dragon. He would need to keep an eye on Edmond less the young man fall as he almost did.

*************

Edmond stared at the desk oblivious to Helgram who stood just to the side. Why did Dragon trust that nobleman so much? What was it about the aristocracy that they always ended up in positions of power? Dragon must have still been caught, like so many others, in the spell that nobility was superior to the average common man. He had raised Sabo, believing he had found himself a real prize in a noble that could be taught the perspective of the poor. It was a laugh, there was no way that could be. Sabo’s arrogance and his continued insubordination was proof of his inbred sense of superiority to others. However, Sabo was still favored by Dragon.

Edmond was certain Sabo would be chosen for the position of Chief of Staff now. Dragon’s confidence in him and his obvious lack of confidence in Edmond made it obvious to the young man.

Edmond was merely the son of candlestick-maker. In Dragon’s mind, he didn’t qualify. Edmond fumed at the injustice of it all. He followed Dragon’s every order. Never strayed from the mission. Completed his tasks as Dragon desired. But apparently that was a mistake. It proved he was a good follower but not a good leader. And now it was too late to correct his mistake.

Edmond ground his teeth. He would just have to find another way to prove himself and get rid of the hated nobleman that dared to involve himself with this revolution. Like someone of his privileged class could ever understand the pain of the poor! That Edmond was certain of. If Dragon chose to ignore it, then he would have to expose it so that no one could ever doubt that Sabo wasn’t one of them again.

“Edmond,” started Helgram.

“I get it!” snapped the young man.

“Do you?” 

“The mission is tricky and Sabo is a trickster,” said Edmond with a hiss. “Tricksters do have their uses. That’s all this is.”

Helgram was silent for a moment then said, “I don’t think you do.” Edmond finally looked up and glared at his mentor. Helgram stared back on flinching for the young man’s intense gaze. “You’ve been taking everything concerning Sabo personally. That needs to stop. We are all brothers in the same cause. You need to accept that.”

Edmond huffed but then lowered his eyes and quietly said, “I understand.” It seemed Helgram was also caught in the spell of nobility. Yes, he understood as he pretended to take Helgram’s words to heart. He understood that he would have to work alone to reveal Sabo’s true nature before everything that everyone was working for was ruined. 


	7. Arrival on OK Ori Island Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Briar and Mary discuss the White Beard incident.
> 
> Ace, Thatch, Teach and Rory arrive.

A week after both the incident aboard the Moby Dick and Timothy was caught…

Briar observed the Tirus from the window of his office as the crew unloaded supplies for the island onto the dock and workers then carried them into facility. The dock was inside a large open cave that connected to the open ocean via a tunnel that was only big enough to allow a single cargo ship to enter or leave at a time, the only point of entry for any ships wishing to dock on the whole island. The high cliffs of the island made landing anywhere else treacherous and accessing the inner area nearly impossible. He had no doubt the revolutionaries would find a way to enter the facility through some unknown backdoor. Natural defenses were convenient to work with but not always efficient.

OK Ori’s security chief, Crockett, knocked on the open door to alert the Mink to his presence. “Doctor Amerdan Mary, Sir,” he said and the dumpy woman in the blue dress entered the room.

“Thank you, Crockett. You may return to your duties,” said Briar, turning away from the window. Crockett nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

“It is good of you to come, Mary,” said Briar. “I hope the trip wasn’t too troublesome for you.”

“It was actually entertaining,” replied Mary with a smile. Briar frowned, whiskers twitching. As he and Holiday feared, she had not been able to behave herself on the trip. What trouble had the Tirus stumbled across? The captain had reported nothing to his men earlier about problems at sea.

“I was able to unleash some new plague strands on a certain pirate crew,” she continued, bubbling, ignoring Briar’s disapproving scowl. “It will be interesting to see how White Beard handles losing so many of his precious sons.”

Briar snorted. Mary never ceased to disappoint. She always managed to bring trouble with her where ever she went. “You plagued the Moby Dick?”

“Indeed.”

“Tell me you were not followed. An earthquake man is not someone I want coming to this island, especially given that this is a volcanic island. I don’t care how long it’s been extinct. A few seismic surges from him and it may well wake up.”  
Mary pursed her lips in a pout. “Followed, no. I wasn’t followed by anyone. I told him where I was going.”

Briar slapped a hand over his face and groaned. This had to happen right after he had invited Dragon here. This was unexpected and quite disastrous. One criminal powerhouse he could handle but two…?

He calmed himself, Dragon wouldn’t come himself so he really wasn’t going to be dealing with a criminal powerhouse on that front, though he should be wary if Dragon chose to send his protégé in his place, but White Beard’s devil fruit power was no joke and he would not be inclined to spare the island if all he wanted was Mary dead. The Revolutionary Army would at least restrain their destructive capability no matter who was sent.

“Why would you tell him where you were going?”

“He seems to have acquired a new son. There was this adorable chap on his ship, barely a man really, who controlled fire.”

Briar’s ears twitched. Things just keep getting better and better, he thought cynically. “So the super rookie was absorbed by White Beard’s crew. Tell me you at least got them both with your viruses.”

“Super rookie?”

That’s right, Mary didn’t pay attention to pirates too chicken to head to the Grandline or were in their first year there. Those poor souls dropped like flies and even the noisy ones ended up being swallowed by the giants called Yonko. Ace had apparently been no exception.

“The super rookie, ‘Fire Fist’ Ace, captain of the Spade Pirates. He was invited to become a warlord but turned it down.”

“Ah! Well he blocked my attack on White Beard but I know I got him. I got most of the crew actually. Only a small handful stayed out of range.”

Briar narrowed his eyes, this changed things. If Mary had boldly told White Beard where she was going as a type of invitation White Beard would probably hesitate. Especially if he had suffered as many causalities as Mary described. He would fear a trap and, with a ship full of ill crewmen, he wouldn’t be able to attack freely nor defend well. One did not simply become a Yonko by being the strongest only, you had to know how to fight smart as well and not risk your men needlessly.

“He’ll send someone,” said Briar, thinking aloud as he tried to formulate a strategy to counter this unexpected development, “but it might be more of delay as he rallies allies and certainly his men won’t survive that delay. However, once his crew is dead there will be nothing to hold back his rage.” Briar sighed. “We’ll have to close down operations here before he can attack. I must report this to the Commander-in-Chief. I really wish you hadn’t done that, Mary. 

“Why?”

Briar glared at her wide-eyed innocent expression. She was the most brilliant scientist when it came to disease studies but she was such a child when it came to everything else. “Holiday and I brought you on this project because we believed you could create a virus that would help us craft our super soldier serum. White Beard is leery of a trap but he loves his crew as if they were his flesh and blood family. There are few fathers who would sit back and do nothing if their children’s lives are on the line. Once he’s desperate, he’ll come to kill you and it would be an easy thing for him to accomplish. All he had to do is sink this entire island. Since you failed to incapacitate him the only thing stopping him now is that he doesn’t have enough crew to control his ship should he launch such an attack on us. You’ve exposed us to his wrath, Mary.”

Mary smirked and Briar felt his usually long temper shortening rapidly. “About your virus, that’s what I infected fire boy with. He’s incubating it. Since it is harmless at this point, he isn’t showing in symptoms. With no symptoms and being how powerful his ability is, he probably will come to kill me in order to save the rest of the crew. White Beard can keep his sick men away from this dangerous place while fire boy and possibly a few others infiltrate this place in order to assassinate me.”

Briar narrowed his eyes and said, “I know your viruses need a live host to incubate them in order for anyone to be able to make use of them but why would you pick such a host, particularly one that we have no control over? We have plenty of suitable hosts here.” 

“None that wield fire,” said Mary, smug.

Briar stared at Mary for a moment then a smile slowly spread across his face. Oh, so that was her game. Yes, that would indeed be useful. Most useful. Now the only problem was in how to harvest the virus once it matured within Fire Fist.

He only hoped that Mary’s assumptions would prove accurate. If White Beard came himself they were all doomed. What a dangerous game she was playing and with all of their lives as the chips on the table.

***********

Ace, Thatch, Rory and Teech doused their lanterns as they their small craft came within sight of the steep cliffs of OK Ori Island. They had hoped to catch up to Mary while she was still onboard the Marine vessel but had been unable to travel as fast as the bigger ship. The vessel had been built for transport mostly and traveled more swiftly than the average battleship of the Marine fleet. The Moby Dick herself was a lumbering fortress that moved at the speed of a turtle unless it found itself a very favorable and powerful wind. Even then she was not a fast ship, but she was hardy. The small boat they were using was much faster but vulnerable to attacks. However, even it couldn’t compete with a transport that was made to favor speed over battle prowess. As such they found themselves outside OK Ori Island long after the Marine vessel had disappeared within.

The one and only entrance to the port was small and well defended with mounted cannons facing out to sea and lookout ports higher up. Thatch signaled to turn the ship so they could sail along the cliff. They would have to find another point of entry.

Ace scanned the cliff wall trying to search for a breach or slightly better hand holds to scale it. If they couldn’t find a safe route in… A chill went through him. White Beard had made them promise not to do anything too crazy. Facing such heavy losses, he was unwilling to risk them as well when it would gain them nothing. If not for the potential threat of bombardment on his helpless crew, he would have come to sink the island himself.

Ace was glad White Beard wasn’t coming. The thought of sinking an entire island just to get one person made him sick inside. It was something the World Government would do without a second thought, and had done. He didn’t want to see White Beard behave in such a manner even in desperation.

As the ship came around to the backside of the island, Ace finally spotted a promising site. The area was a sheltered cove and there seemed to be a crevasse in the wall. It could be a dead end and not lead to the inner ring but a crevasse could be scaled more easily than a cliff face. He pointed it out to Thatch who directed Rory to steer the ship to the sheltered area.

Rory carefully maneuvered the ship, timing the waves so that it carried them to the opening without sweeping them into the walls. He was actually an excellent helmsman. Ace hadn’t realized that. It changed his opinion of the man as a pirate and sailor but Ace still thought he was an overbearing jerk. 

Rory had been on his ass since he came aboard the Moby Dick though Ace couldn’t recall ever doing anything to him. Rory had been a part of White Beard’s crew for two years prior to Ace arriving and a member of another pirate crew for three years prior to that. So it couldn’t be a personal grudge from a fight that happened before Ace joined White Beard. Yet Rory acted like Ace had kicked his most beloved puppy. Ace really didn’t understand the man.

Once their boat was nestled in the cove, they dropped anchor, there was nothing to tie her to, and climbed up the side until they reached the crevasse. Teech was having problems, his round body just wasn’t built for this activity.

Ace looked at the crevasse, it could just fit Thatch, Rory and him, Teech was too big for it. They had just arrived and they were already facing issues. Why Teech had been allowed to volunteer when he was so unsuited for an infiltration mission, where speed and avoiding being seen were so necessary for it? Teech was the worst person to have on such a mission. White Beard had decreed the healthy crew would draw lots to determine who goes and Teech had won. Now they would just have to figure out how to work with it. Especially since it wasn’t and hadn’t been Ace’s call. Thatch was in charge and Thatch hadn’t complained. 

Ace returned his attention to the matter at hand and peered into the chasm. He couldn’t see any light nor feel a wind coming from within. The air that entered due to the wind coming from behind him shot up soon after entering. He could waste time trying to following it in to see if it was really a dead end or just accept what the wind was telling him about the path. It was probably better for all to just accept it was not a pathway in. Instead it would be their ladder to the top but Teech was still going to have trouble.  
“Maybe, Teech, you should stay here,” said Ace, hoping Teech would. Even if they got him over the cliff he would still stick out like a sore thumb.

Rory grimaced once he was level with Ace and peered past Ace’s shoulder. “This is narrow even for us, but it doesn’t look like it will go through, anyway.” Ace said nothing, glad someone else seconded his silent opinion of the crevasse even if it was Rory.  
“Then I’ll be fine,” said Teech. “I’ll just climb up the side of it. It will still be easier than climbing the cliff.”

“Okay,” said Ace, hiding his disappointment. He placed his right foot on one side and the left on the other, his hands matching then began climbing up. Rory and Thatch followed suit and Teech made an awkward hand holds along both edges while letting his wide belly line up along the gap so he wasn’t being pushed away from the cliff face as he climbed.

A half hour later, the four arrived at the top of the natural wall. Ace moved out of the way of his crewmates and peered into the crater below. A wave of dizziness swept over him. The world spun for a moment and he grabbed a rock spire to keep from tumbling.

“Ace, you all right?” asked Thatch.

Ace blinked and looked out over the crater. Everything was normal again, his sudden dizziness gone as soon as it appeared. Ace wondered what had happened. He had heard that those sensitive to heights suffered such dizzy spells when in high places but he had never had a problem with high places before, so why had he gotten dizzy?

Ace’s mind flashed for a moment to when he confronted Typhoid Mary and the brief moment when a drop of her blood landed on his shoulder before it was incinerated. “Fine,” he replied, squashing his thoughts before Thatch could read them on his face. He shook his head. If he was going to get sick he would already be sick.

“This place is huge!” said Rory as he gazed over the enormous facility and quarry.

“Yeah, it is,” said Ace feeling overwhelmed. How were they going to find Mary in there?


	8. Arrival on OK Ori Island Pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabo, Akatsuki, Koala and Hack arrive on the island.
> 
> Briar discusses his plan action with his chief of security, Crockette.

Hack slipped their small boat into the sheltered cove. Timothy’s report had revealed the cove’s existence and a hidden entrance to the island but they debated using it. Timothy had been caught while sending the report and they weren’t sure the cove hadn’t been compromised. However, there had been no other possible place to tie up their boat so that it was hidden from any patrols nor did there appear to be any other possible entrance that would work for them. Unless they wanted to do a full scale invasion and capture the port, they wouldn’t be able to rescue the slaves if they had to go over the cliff wall. The cove’s entrance was such one had to really look carefully just to notice the difference in the spacing of the rocks where part of the wall came away from the main island rock.

Once they were in, Hack froze and the other three started. Another boat was sitting in the cove already. The four held their breath but nothing happened. Akatsuki leapt across to check for people and waved the all clear once she had confirmed there was no one. The boat was unguarded.

“I wonder what’s up with this boat,” said Sabo as he dropped the anchor overboard. 

“It appears to be a small transport boat belonging to a pirate,” said Akatsuki after she clambered up the mast and held out the slack black flag for them to see.

Sabo swallowed and Hack and Koala stared slack jawed. The jolly roger was very well known. A cross of two bones behind a grinning skull sporting only a long white moustache. 

Akatsuki seemed confused at the three’s frightened faces. “What is it, Milord?” she asked.

“That flag happens to belong to a pirate of great fame and influence,” said Sabo, hardly believing that Akatsuki was clueless to one of the biggest names on the sea.

She tilted her head. “Who is that?”

Koala gaped and said, “How can you not know who White Beard is?”

“Pirates don’t interest me,” Akatsuki replied. “I have little to do with them because they are without honor.”

“Not necessarily true for all pirates but we’re getting side-tracked here. So let’s drop it for now and move on,” said Sabo when he saw both Hack and Koala bristling. They were probably thinking of Jinbei and his fishman pirates.

“Certainly, Milord,” said Akatsuki, releasing the flag and dropping back down to the deck.

Akatsuki hadn’t even acknowledged Sabo’s first point and Sabo didn’t really feel she was wrong. He merely said what he did to keep the peace since he knew Hack and Koala’s feelings. He didn’t say anything else in the hopes the subject could be dropped by all parties. Akatsuki’s strong beliefs and sense of honor made her difficult to work with from time to time.

Koala huffed and Hack sighed then the pair started to climb the cliff side. Carefully taking hold of the tiny ledges and setting their feet as they began to edge up the side. Sabo and Akatsuki waited their turn to ascend.

“So what are we do about the ship, Milord?” asked Akatsuki. Everyone froze.

“Huh?” Sabo was now the confused one.

“Should we destroy it?”

Koala went red faced and Sabo thought she might drop off the side of the cliff, she was shaking so bad with suppressed rage. Koala was really taking this personally. “And for what purpose would we need to do that?” asked Sabo before Koala could say anything.  
“Please don’t,” said Hack before Akatsuki could answer. “White Beard is the Yonko protecting by home island from slavers. I would prefer no harm came to his own.”

“Ah. I didn’t realize,” said Akatsuki. “My apologies.”

Koala calmed and she and Hack continued up the cliff to the crevasse.

“Still I wonder what has brought them here,” she said, her gaze falling on the limp flag.

“Maybe we’ll find out while we’re here,” said Koala.

“I hope they don’t get in the way of our mission with their raiding or thieving or whatever criminal activity has drawn them here,” said Sabo.

“This is a World Government experimental facility, they may be rescuing a crewmember,” said Hack without pausing. 

Sabo narrowed his eyes. He highly doubted that. Pirates generally didn’t rescue their captured crew if they ended up in such circumstances due to the extreme risk it would bring against the remainder. However, he didn’t say anything. Koala and Hack were bristling enough without his making things worse with unnecessary opinions.

He and Akatsuki began to ascend the cliff following the path the first two had taken. Once they reached the crevasse, Sabo examined it. It appeared to be a dead end but the report said there was a way through the wall. Sabo turned sideways and slid along the crevasse’s side. He found the crevasse began to turn and twist around, creating the illusion of a solid back in its shadows from the entrance. He smiled, this would go all the way through and be their way in to the facility. 

He motioned for the others to follow before continuing forward.

********

Briar called in his team. Holiday arrived with another scientist, the botanist, Ringo, Crockett was there with Jane, Jane present only because Holiday was the only one who could order to do anything. She got irritable if anyone else tried and the unstable woman was not someone they wanted to annoy.

Briar sighed inside at her presence. He would rather not have Jane on his team. She had the Calamity Calamity Devil Fruit power. She could cause disasters ranging from a fall down the stairs to a volcano waking up depending on her mood. She was also certifiable. Jane had just enough sanity to be manageable but as far as Briar was concerned she was nothing but a liability no matter how one looked at her. Since Holiday was the only one who could control her, if he wanted Holiday he had no choice but to take Jane as well.

There had been attempts to assassinate her in the past but every single assassin had fallen victim to a terrible disaster and so had numerous bystanders. So the World Government had settled for Holiday’s control and stopped trying to kill her.

Ringo was a young man with sandy hair and brown eyes that peered at the world through round glasses. A dusting of freckles decorated his cheeks making him appear even younger than he actually was. He may have been young but he was the best at plant genetics manipulation. He could make super aggressive plants that would attack people and, thanks to his devil fruit ability, he could manipulate those plants to move as extensions of his will. Manipulating plant genes was easier than animals or people but knowing how to do that was the first step to turning it on the more complicated life forms. Ringo was one of the calmest and most level headed of his scientists and his plants made it much easier to capture targets than anyone else. Plants didn’t fear getting chopped up and would continue to do as he willed until the target could fight no more.

Crockett had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was still wearing his favorite raccoon skin hat with the tail hanging slightly to the right of center in the back. The shadow of a beard marred his sharp chin. He wore brown loose leather jacket and matching pants, looking like he would be more at home in the woods than here. He was the head of security on the island. He needed to be clued in so he could prepare his team for the coming infiltration. Briar didn’t want Crockett’s men to mistakenly kill his targets by mistake. Crockett was a top gunslinger after all, and he was a zoan type devil fruit user, bear model, which made him affective in fist fights as well. 

“I have received some interesting and possibly distressing news,” said Briar. “It seems Mary had issued her own invitation to none-other-than White Beard while she was on her way here.”

Holiday face palmed, Crockett blanched, Jane laughed and Ringo grimaced. All expected reaction from the four at such news.

“She has also informed me that the chances are high that only a few White Beard Pirates and not the man himself will be appearing,” continued Briar. Jane was the only one to look disappointed. “There is one individual that I am hoping will show up that I need for one of my projects. The man is the one who made himself infamous this past year especially after he turned down the invitation to be a Warlord.”

“You mean the one called First Fist Ace?” asked Crockett. “Why would he appear?”

“He seems to have been absorbed by White Beard and is now one of his sons.”

“You’re not asking me to capture that fire user are you, Doctor Briar?” asked Ringo. “I’m still struggling with making my plants fire retardant without robbing them of their mobility.”

“Why do we need to capture such an individual?” asked Holiday.

“For the super soldier project,” replied Briar. “Mary infected him with the vary virus we commissioned her for in hopes of acquiring his fire ability when its finally mature. Mary, please explain how it might be possible to capture such a problematic individual.”

Mary who was standing to the side of him smiled and said, “Of course. I infected Fire Fist a few day ago with a transmutation virus. The transmutation virus on its own is harmless. All it is is a cargo ship without cargo. Viruses inject their own genes into a hosts in order to force the host to produce more of the viruses for it. Using that natural ability of the virus, we would have the transmutation virus take the desired genes we give it and have it injected into a host to intermingle and replace present genes.”

“Fascinating but how does that help us capture Fire Fist,” asked Crockett. Science was not his specialty. Of course, it was also not his job.

Mary wagged a finger at him. “The virus I created is empty and, on its own, harmless. At first, Fire Fist will feel a slight fever if he even noticed anything at all.”

“At first?”

Ringo grinned. “You’re virus can pick up genes and then transfer them to new areas. Animals and people tend to reject such transfers, that’s why Doctor Holiday and Doctor Briar are having such trouble with their serum. The test subjects reject the changes with fatal consequences often times. It is believed rejection is what caused the fatalities in the Imperial Rose Project from a decade and half ago.”

“Judge didn’t have that type of trouble, though,” said Holiday, frustration coloring his words.

“I don’t believe he was using human genes for his project which is why we are using non-human genes now,” said Briar.

Crockett looked even more confused and annoyed while Jane just looked bored.

Ringo patted the security officer on his shoulder in sympathy. “It means that fire boy could soon start suffering rejection symptoms that will immobilize him. The immune system will begin attacking his own body once the transmutation virus starts playing musical chairs with his genes because it will see those parts as foreign.”

“But won’t those genes still be his genes, so why would he reject his own genes?” asked Crockett.

“Because it won’t be his own genes. It will be the devil fruit’s,” replied Mary. “That’s why I chose him, so that the virus could claim the ability to control fire.”

Crockett stopped being confused. He wasn’t stupid. Science just wasn’t his area of expertise. “So we capture Fire Fist. Anyone else?”

Briar shook. “The rest are unnecessary. Don’t waste your efforts in corralling them.”

Crockett nodded then asked, “What about Dragon?”

“Let’s see who he sends first,” replied Briar. “If it’s his protégé, naturally I want him alive. He can be the first to experience the full transmutation serum… once it is ready, of course.”


	9. Ace in Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace isn't feeling too good and what a time to find out.

The four White Beard’s dropped down onto a walkway, grateful they hadn’t had to climb all the way down to the base of the wall. Ace bent over, breathing hard from the climb. He felt weak all of a sudden and it had taken a massive amount of focus and concentration to keep from tumbling the last several yards. His arms trembled from exertion and he hid it by clutching his knees as he panted. The weakness faded and the trembling stopped after half a minute. 

The others were recovering from their climb as well. Teech was collapsed on the walkway gasping for air and sweating profusely. Thatch, experienced old soldier that he was, was sitting on the path to rest but was not even breathing hard. Rory was still standing, similarly unaffected by the climb. He was glaring at Ace.

What I do now? wondered Ace as glared back at Rory.

With the momentary weakness gone, Ace straightened and got his breathing under control. He was half their age so his lack of stamina could be blamed on inefficient climbing methods. Older veterans were said to know the most efficient way to walk that kept them from breaking a sweat when the hardier youth were gasping for air. He glanced down at Teech who was still spread eagle on the walkway. Some veterans, that is.

Thatch rose to his feet. “We better get moving. If we linger here too long we’ll be spotted. Ace, you all right?”

Ace felt himself bristle but answered with a small laugh, “Yeah, trees are easier to climb and none were ever that tall.”

“Heh, just wait until you visit Elbaf,” said Thatch with a smirk before turning away. “Get up, Teech, we’re moving.”

“You’re not going to ask me if I’m all right, Commander?” asked Teech from the floor, a whine in his voice.

Rory tugged on Teech’s shirt. “You over exaggerate everything, Teech. Now get up before the guards spot us.”

Teech snorted then jumped to his feet, his earlier exhaustion gone. Ace blinked in surprise at Teech’s sudden recovery. He made a mental note to not take Teech at face value anymore. He still thought there was something off about him.

The four hurried down the walkway, looking for a ladder or a set of stairs to take them to the lower floors where they could access the buildings and search for Mary. There was no cover on the pathway, the railing were nothing but a single bar held up every two yards by another bar. They needed to get down as soon as possible before someone saw them running along its length, but they couldn’t see any stairs or ladders at any point in the direction they were traveling. 

Ace paused to look over his shoulder just in case they had chosen to go in the wrong direction, but there was no way down visible in the other direction either. He then peered over the side to see what was directly below them. If there were parallel walkways beneath this one they might be able to jump down each level until they reached the bottom. For all they knew the walkways were linked at a central location and if they tried to enter it they would be spotted immediately.

There was a walkway beneath them, but it was a fair distance lower and the way the wall was angled meant it wasn’t directly beneath them. Jumping down would be tricky.

“Ace? What are you doing?” Ace jolted at Rory’s voice and looked back up. Rory was standing next to him, fury making his face ugly and his eyes flash. Thatch and Teech were further away and staring back at the two.

As the resident rookie of the four, he shouldn’t have been acting on his own. Thatch, the fourth division commander, was in charge. Ace, previously a captain of his own ship until a couple months ago, still wasn’t use to having to concede authority to anyone else and having to explain his actions.

“I was just checking for a faster way down. We aren’t finding anything else so I thought maybe we could jump from level to level if there were other walkways,” he said, then wondered why he was explaining this to Rory and not Thatch.

Thatch looked thoughtful but Rory just seemed to get more irritated. He pursed his lips and seemed to about to say something when a voice piped up from below.

“Unless you are willing to jump, there is no way for you to reach this path without entering one of the terminals and the closest one is in the other direction.”

All four men froze, then Ace leaned over the railing again to peer down at the lower walkway. A woman with long fawn brown hair tied back at the neck, dressed in ragged brown worker’s clothes and carrying a basket of glowing crystals on her back, stood there staring back at him. Her left hand was extended in the direction they had just come from.

Rory, who also leaned over to see the speaker, grabbed Ace by his beaded necklace and shook him once he was upright on the walkway again. “Dammit Ace! We’ve already been spotted because of you!” Ace clawed at his throat and tried to loosen Rory’s grip even as his head whipped back and forth. Rory was holding his beads so tightly that he was partially strangling Ace.

Thatch ran over to restrain Rory, less he inadvertently, toss Ace over the railing. “Cool it, Rory!” hissed the fourth division commander. “If you keep yelling like this, the guards really will find us.”

“I say we’ve already been found,” snapped Rory turning to face Thatch, though he did lower his voice. 

The freed Ace leaned over the railing sucking in air while spots danced before his eyes. He was suddenly feeling dizzy again, not very surprising considering how hard Rory had been shaking him a moment ago. He looked down at the woman who stared at them with only a glimmer of interest, more curious than amused. “You wouldn’t mind just pretending you never saw us, would you? We don’t plan on wrecking the place. We just need to find a certain person,” he said. She didn’t look like a Marine or a government person from her attire and he had found that sometimes regular citizens wouldn’t involve themselves with pirates if the said pirates didn’t involve the citizens in their activities. Ace realized that she may not cooperate, but she hadn’t called the guards when she first spotted them and instead even offered a suggestion on where to go.

“Oi,” said Rory, looking over his shoulder at Ace. Thatch jabbed the man to keep him from saying anything else and Teech watched in silence as he ambled back toward them.

She thought for a moment then lowered her basket to the ground and planted her fists on her hips. “I’ll help you find whomever you want but I want something in return first.”

“And what’s that?” asked Ace, drawing out the words, guarded. If she asked for a favor he wasn’t interested in granting, she may call the guards then and there. 

She raised her foot so that he could see it. Her ankle was bound by a shackle with a chain that led to her other leg. “Free me. I’ve been a slave here for four years. I would have slit my own throat back then if not for the order from my king to come back no matter what. It is disgraceful for a warrior like me to be taken prisoner, never mind to be forced to work for the enemy like this. So free me and I will help you find whatever, whomever you need.”

“Okay,” said Ace, letting out a sigh of relief. Freedom was the one favor he had no trouble granting.

Rory smacked Ace on the back of the head and snarled, “You’re not in charge, Golden Boy!” 

Ace snarled and nearly punched Rory then and there. Golden Boy?! 

“However,” said Thatch pulling Rory away from Ace and Ace held his temper, “I agree with granting this condition. Freedom is not something that should be deprived of anyone.” He leaned over and spoke to the woman. “Anyway we can get down there to meet you?”

“Are you afraid of heights? Just jump,” she said, her face dead serious. “This walkway is further out compared to the one above because of the incline of the wall.”

“That’s what I thought,” said Thatch with a smile. “You heard the lady, down we go.”

“Commander? Are you sure?” asked Rory but Thatch was already jumping down to the walkway below. It was a fair drop and he had to kick off the side of the wall before he could land on the walkway. The incline wasn’t as steep as it appeared from above. Teech laughed and followed suit, leaving a disgruntled Rory and still slightly dizzy Ace behind.

Rory sighed and stepped up onto the railing then he looked over at Ace who remained leaning against it. “Oi, move it, Buttercup,” he said then leapt down.

“Right, right,” Ace said and climbed over the railing to hang onto the outside so he could better place his jump. His depth perception failed at that moment and he suddenly couldn’t tell how far down it was. He froze, was it twenty feet or a hundred feet? He knew it wasn’t a hundred feet, the others wouldn’t have been able to handle a hundred foot drop, but his mind refused to act. What was wrong with him? His mind once again flashed to that tiny blood droplet.

Stop that! I’m being paranoid and making myself sick, thought Ace, even as his vision refused to correct itself.

“Ace?” called Thatch. His expression was that of concern and growing alarm.

“Oh good grief, Golden Boy, get down here!” snapped Rory.

Ace shook his head then looked again, the perceived distance grew to a thousand feet. It’s not that far! thought Ace in aggravation, but his hands clung tighter to the railing.

“Ace!” Thatch was getting scared for the young man. They couldn’t get back up to the previous level. If Ace didn’t jump…

The woman shifted over a few feet and braced herself against the railing. “Ace-kun,” she called. “I’m right beneath you, just drop. Close your eyes and drop. The cliff face is causing an optical illusion. Close your eyes so you stop being deceived and drop.”

Ace was humiliated. He knew all that! He knew that his eyes were being tricked and it shouldn’t have bothered him anyway. He wasn’t afraid of heights or anything. He should have been able to make the jump.

He swallowed his anger and closed his eyes hoping the irrational fear plaguing him would stop once the false visuals were closed off. Instead his head spun. His sense of balance vanished and all perception of up and down ceased to exist. He felt like he might fly away or tumble into the void. Then his sense of touch disappeared for one brief terrifying moment and he dropped.


	10. Guinevere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the White Beard team gets a new ally and Sabo and friends find the slaves.

Ace hit the cliff face with enough force to cause his logia defense to flash an ignition of flames before tumbling down the last few yards, slamming into the woman’s strong and firm body, her hands gripping his shoulders as she steadied him. Ace looked at her. She was crouched down, perfectly positioned to stop his tumble. Green eyes met his with concern.

“Are you all right, Ace-kun? It seemed like you lost your grip in that moment instead of just dropping like I suggested,” she said.

Ace hesitated, accessing his body. The numbness was gone and his balance had returned. The sensation of no gravity was gone and his vision was normal again. He started to stand and the woman helped him to his feet. He thanked her, still spooked by what had just happened.

Thatch came over and grabbed Ace’s shoulders, forcing the younger to meet his eyes. “What was that, Ace? What happened?”

Ace stared at his commander then looked away, his mind flashing a third time on that moment when Mary’s blood touched him. “I don’t know.”

Thatch was quiet for a moment his expression neutral then said in a low voice, “You didn’t completely dodge Typhoid Mary’s final attack, did you?” Ace looked up, shock written all over his face. “So that’s it.”

“What?!” gasped Rory.

“It burnt to ash as soon as it hit and I didn’t get sick like everyone else,” Ace hurried to explain. “Everyone else dropped within seconds of being hit with her blood but I was fine. So I don’t know what’s going on. I really don’t!”

“True, it’s been several days since Mary invaded our ship,” said Thatch. “This may not have anything to do with Mary’s devil fruit.”

Teech snorted. “Still, what a lousy time to catch a cold.”

“Indeed,” said Rory with a snarl of disgust.

Thatch held his chin in thought then looked up in the direction they had come. He sighed and looked at Ace again. “Let’s get this done as quickly as we can. Try to keep you head while we move but don’t be afraid to say you need help if you find yourself going under again, Ace.”

“I understand,” said Ace, hating himself at that moment. He had blundered again and now the mission was being endangered. If he really was getting sick, he would be a liability to the team and after Thatch had gone out of his way to allow Ace to come along when White Beard and wanted him to stay. He silently cursed himself. Thatch had looked up because he had been trying to determine if it would be possible to send Ace back to their ship to wait now that he was compromised.

“Now.” Thatch turned to face the woman. “Let’s see about getting you free of your chains. The sooner we find Mary, the sooner we can deal with her and get out of here. Rory, you’re our resident locksmith, can you get her out of her chains?”

“What kind of question is that?” huffed Rory as he walked over. He bent down to examine the shackles then pulled out his lock picking kit from his inner pocket. Ace stared in wonder, Rory seemed to have a lot of talents. Rory went to work on the shackles and a few nerve wracking minutes later the shackles came off with a shockingly loud thud.

“What the fuck?!” yelped Rory when he tried to pick them up and failed. “And they had you working in those? What are you?”

“Is it really that shocking to have restraints of this weight?” she asked.

“Eh…” All four just stared at her, dumbfounded.

“So it is someone named ‘Mary’ that you seek,” she continued, apparently dropping her question.

“It is,” replied Thatch, recovering sooner than the other three. “She has an ability that can sicken anyone that touches her blood. She inflicted many of our shipmates. While the disease she inflicted them with doesn’t appear to be contagious from person to person, we fear it is also the type that can’t be cured unless the one with that power is knocked out or killed. Our friends will die if we can’t find and defeat Typhoid Mary.”

“Such a frightening power,” said the woman. She looked across the crater toward the buildings that lay on the other side. “I know that a ship arrived earlier today but I do not who or what was on board. However, while the part we are in is the quarry where they mine for these crystals,” she paused to run her hand through the top of the basket full of glowing crystals then continued, “it is probably in the experimental laboratories located in the main building that we shall find her.” She pointed to the buildings in the distance. “She sounds like someone Doc Holiday would be interested in working with. He often conducts experiments on humans for various reasons. A disease crafter would be something he would want for his work, I am certain.” 

“That’s a bit disturbing,” said Rory.

“The World Government has never been the ones to shy away from human experimentation,” said Teech with a shrug. “Slaves or prisoners are their preferred victims since no one of note will complain, but they’ve been known to use citizens if they are fresh out of the first two types. They’ll use any method to obtain more power or to keep their secrets.”

Ace glanced at Teech. It almost sounded like the man was speaking from personal experience. He then glanced at the woman and flinched. “Ah! Here we are talking business and we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet,” he said remembering his lesson in manners Makino had given him as a kid. 

“Ah, good point,” said Thatch. He turned to their newest companion and apologized, “Sorry, about that.” He gave a little bow. “I’m Thatch, the fourth division commander of White Beard’s crew. These are by shipmates, Teech, Rory and Ace, of course.” He gestured to each man, throwing a grin at Ace since she had already called him by his name and therefore knew it.

“My four years of captivity seemed to have also caused me to misplace my manners,” she replied returning the bow with a small one of her own. “I am Guinevere, fourth knight of the circle in service to King Arthur of Anglan.”

Teech whistled while the others just stared in shock. She was surprisingly a big deal.

Ace coughed then asked, “You mentioned it earlier about being caught while serving your king. What happened? You seem like the last person they would want to hold prisoner just because you sound like a really important person.”

“I do hold a significant rank, yes,” she replied. “However, Anglan is independent of the World Government. We have been suspicious of them for centuries and refused to be a part of their system. They are a people with neither honor nor justice, only an illusion they use to fool the masses. Being a nation independent of their rule means we are not considered people their laws will grant even the illusion of protection to. My nation must maintain an ever constant vigilance against their spies and thieves.

“That being said, four years ago, a thief did gain access to our sacred vault and stole two treasures of the nation that should never have left our inner sanctum. I, along with my subordinates, rushed after the thief but he escaped the island. I insisted in going after him and my king gave me the order to return regardless of the outcome of the pursuit. I think he feared the World Government’s power and that my men and I were throwing our lives away trying to recapture those treasures. However, he could not forbid us to go after it because those treasures were that important.

“Though it was an order to return, my men and I could not justify returning without those sacred treasures. In the end my men were killed and I was imprisoned. My failure as a knight and commander of men is absolute and I would have chosen death despite the order but for what I learned of the World Government during my pursuit. This knowledge that I now possess must be brought back to Anglan. Though I will return in shame and will probably have to surrender my title and face retribution for my failure.”  
“You’re going back just to face punishment for going back empty handed despite an order to return empty handed if you could not retrieve the items?” Ace was stunned. “Why would you? It’s completely unfair!”

“It was my failure that caused my men to lose their lives. We were all ordered to return but I, the commander, am the only one still alive. That is a shame that no knight can shoulder and still remain a knight. I should have realized we were in over our head before it happened. I should have recognized the difference in strength and called the retreat. Instead I let my personal feelings lead me to make a very poor choice and my men paid the ultimate price. That is my failure and dishonor.”

Thatch sighed and said, “I can understand the responsibility that comes with being a commander of men and knowing their lives depend on your good judgment. We won’t pry into your reasoning anymore.” He directed that last statement mainly at Ace and the young man flinched back. As a former captain, he should have been more sympathetic to her loss. Ace felt like a cad.

“Anyway,” continued Thatch, “I think we’ve lingered long enough. We need to get moving again.”

“If you are worried about the guards, never fear,” said Guinevere. “This is the quarry and they only come by if they hear of trouble. As long as there are no revolts they will have no reason to enter this area.”  
“That’s nice to know,” said Thatch.

“This way.” Guinevere then turned and headed down the walkway, leaving the basket of crystals behind. The four men hurried to catch up to her.

******

Sabo slid out of the crevasse which was now a narrow tunnel as the top part had closed up as they inched along. He stepped out into the open space, grateful to be out of the narrow fissure. Koala, Hack and Akatsuki emerged after him. He looked up and blinked in surprise. Several people in chains and tattered brown outfits were frozen mid activity and staring at him.

Looks like we found the slaves, he thought, grimacing. That was faster than I was expecting. He knew saving them was top priority, and he agreed with that sentiment, but how was he to save them so soon? He hadn’t even gotten to look around for Timothy or Holiday yet.

“Hello,” he said to the people who looked as if they might drop everything and run. “My friends and I are from the Revolutionary Army and we’ve come to rescue you from your captivity.”

Now the people looked at him like he was crazy. They had probably abandoned the concept of escape long ago and couldn’t see how this would be even half way successful. 

“Koala, do you mind getting in touch with the Icarus and letting them know where they can bring her to dock?” he asked in a hushed voice. “We’ll be sending everyone through the path here rather than risk exposure at the port.”

“That does seem like the best course of action,” replied Koala. “This side isn’t being watched at all.”

“Once everyone is safely on board, I’ll have the Icarus leave. We can escape with our own craft after we’ve dealt with Holiday.”

Koala nodded and brought out her encrypted den den mushi to speak with the Icarus.


	11. The Snitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a snitch that outs Sabo to Briar's men and a sneeze that outs Ace and company to a pair of not so friendly giants.

Trying to convince the slaves to escape was harder than Sabo thought it would be. The people had been beaten down so many times when they showed the slightest inclination towards escaping that they no longer dared to consider it. Even when Koala showed them the escape route that would take them to the Icarus, that was now approaching the hidden cove, they still would not budge and insisted Sabo and the others leave before they caused them any trouble. It was rather disheartening.

“Listen we came to rescue you,” said Sabo, trying to remain calm as frustration and impatience continued to rise. “Trust us! This isn’t some empty promise, this isn’t some trick, we really do have a ship and we really are getting you out of here. You’ll never see this place again.”

“Why should we? You could be slave raiders here to capture us so you can sell us to some other master,” shouted someone from within the crowd. “We can’t risk our lives on your word alone!”

“The opportunity for you to go home to your families has arrived and you want to deny it because you fear getting caught?” asked Koala. “You would throw away this chance when we just showed you the route is safe?”

“We can’t trust anything you tell us!”

Their arguments were circular and Sabo and the others were wasting time. They couldn’t force the people to leave but Sabo couldn’t stand abandoning them. It wasn’t their fault they had had their hope beaten out of them.

“I’ll prove to you you can trust us,” said Koala. “I was a slave once and I escaped because someone cared enough to come and we were willing to risk ourselves to take the chance he gave us. Because what kind of life were we living as slaves? It was worth it! Freedom is worth it! This is your chance. You aren’t even risking half as much as I did when I was little. You can still go home and no one would ever realize you were a runaway slave. 

“The same is not true for me. If I’m caught I’ll be repossessed immediately because I still have the mark. The Sun Pirates tried to cover it up, but they still know that I’m a runaway because they know the Sun Pirates only ever helped one human girl. So a human bearing the mark of the Sun Pirates is the one that is a runaway slave. Look!” Koala turned around and raised her shirt so the people could see the brand of a sun on her back. The proof that she had been a Sun Pirate. The proof, in her words, that she had once been a slave.

A pirate mark to cover a slave mark. Only one group marked their slaves and the thought made Sabo physically ill. Koala had been the property of the Celestial Dragons. He felt his heart ache with this revelation about his friend. She had never told him about her past and here she was exposing it to these people in attempt to win them over. This was why she was so touchy about pirates being labeled as beings without honor. She had literally been saved by them.

The people lost their voice. They silently stared at Koala then looked away. They were out of arguments. Even more true, they wanted to be free. They wanted to believe but it had been so long since they had dared to dream. Then the first person stepped forward then another followed and then another. Soon they were all coming forward and others rushed to gather the rest of the slaves. Koala and Akatsuki got to work on the people’s shackles and Hack led them back through the narrow tunnel. Malnourished as they were, they had an easier time slipping through the opening than the four of them had.

Sabo stood watch. He didn’t know when the guards would notice the strange movements of the slaves and when and how they would respond. He hoped they would be caught off guard by the direction and not notice until everyone was already aboard the Icarus. The passage was narrow and would not allow for a quick escape. The longer the guards failed to react, the better the people’s chances.

Sabo intended to send the Icarus away as soon as the people were all onboard. Their smaller boat could travel over long distances, if necessary. It just wouldn’t be the most comfortable voyage. Once the Icarus was safely away, they would begin their investigation on Holiday and find Timothy.

********

Unknown to Sabo and his group, one of the men in the quarry had different plans. Seeing the people gathering to leave, Mitch snuck away between the rocks and darted through the alleyways of slave quarters. He needed to avoid being seen as much as possible less someone grow suspicious and stop him. Once free of the slave quarters, he hurried along the path to the main building, a greedy glint in his eye. Outside the entrance stood two guards. Both were lax in their stance until they spotted him approaching then straightened immediately to bar his way.

“What do you want?” snarled one of them.

“I need to speak with Doctor Briar. I have important information from the slave quarters that is most urgent,” he said.

The guard sneered ready to reject him, but the second leaned over and whispered something into the first guard’s ear. The guard huffed then the two men moved out of the way. “Then get it delivered,” snapped the guard, irritated that he had to let a lowly slave pass.

Mitch hurried inside before the guards could change their mind and made straight for the stairs that would take him up to Doctor Briar’s office. Once there he knocked on the door and Briar’s low voice beckoned him inside.

“You have something to report?” asked Briar his eyes fixed on the ragged man.

Mitch flinched back from the rabbit’s piercing gaze then said, “Four revolutionaries are in the slave quarters organizing an escape of the captives. They have a ship waiting outside a tunnel and they are boarding as we speak.”

“Describe these men.”

“One fishman and three humans, two of which are women. The man is tall, wears a black coat and hat, has blonde hair and has a scar around his left eye. Of the women, one is average height with short, carrot hair. The other is short with long blue-black hair tied in a ponytail and dressed head to toe in black.”

“Thank you,” said Briar with a smile. He then looked past the man and said, “Did you get that, Crockett?”

“Every word, sir,” said Crockett, brushing his short brown hair from his eyes.

“It seems Dragon’s protégé has indeed come. Capture them,” ordered Briar. 

“What about the ship the slaves are boarding?” asked the Chief of Security.

Briar frowned then replied. “The Tirus is not outfitted to wage a major battle and we can’t afford to have her damaged at this time. We will probably be using her to leave OK Ori Island in a few days anyway.”

Crockett grimaced then nodded and headed out the door. 

Mitch looked nervously at the departing guard and then back to the rabbit. Why would they be leaving OK Ori Island? He was pulled from his thoughts by Briar’s next words. “As for you, head over to the kitchen for your usual payment.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” said the man and he quickly left the room, his work complete. What did it matter to him if they were shutting down OK Ori Island? He would be taken with them when the time came because he was dutiful and loyal. They wouldn’t abandon him.

**********

Crockett arrived in the break room where his men waited. They had been on alert for the past few days in anticipation of the Revolutionary Army’s arrival and at last the time had come. Reid and most of the men were relaxing but appeared ready to move at a moment’s notice. A few were playing poker, not a major distraction, but Bill was drinking along with a few others.

He sighed. Reid and Bill were his lieutenants and both talented gunmen but Bill spent half his time stumble down drunk. The man was impossible to control and did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without any regard to what anyone else needed. If it weren’t for the fact he was an outstanding superstar of a gunman, he would have been court marshaled by the Marines a long time ago. Crockett wished they would anyway, then he wouldn’t have deal with him anymore. 

He stepped into the room and called to his men, “Up and ready! The revolutionaries are here. There are only four so we have been ordered to take them alive. Reid! Bill! I need you take your men around the Delta quarter. It seems they are trying to take the slaves out of a narrow opening in the quarry. I need you to close that off so they don’t try to escape that way. I’ll head in the front to distract them from your movements.”

“Why ya gotta involve me in this?” whined Bill as he took another swig from the bottle he was holding.

“Because it’s your job!” said Crockett. “Get on your feet, Bill!”

“It’s only four of ‘em. Hardly worth the effort for me to go down there when ya two are enough for a few rebel punks,” said Bill, not budging.

Crockett didn’t have time for this. The revolutionaries were getting more slaves out and may leave soon after, and if he spent all the time arguing with Bill their quarry would be gone before they arrived.

“Fine!” snapped Crockett. “But this is going in the report. You can speak with the good doctor about your insubordination while Reid and I round up the revolutionaries.”

Bill waved him away, not even caring about the threat Crockett had just issued. Several of their men looked disgusted at Bill but the man was oblivious as he downed another bottle.

Crockett and Reid headed out.

************

Guinevere motioned for them to stop and placed a finger over her lips, signaling silence. She then peeked around the corner of the building. The area before them was an open space with a few trees standing around for decoration in what seemed to be a courtyard. Ace and the other could hear sounds like snoring coming from the other side. 

Guinevere gestured to the trees which were far too narrow to hide all of them at once. She motioned with her hands taking turns in crossing the open space and keeping as quiet as possible as they did so. Thatch nodded and gave the thumbs up to the others. He then looked pointedly at Ace. Ace nodded his head to the unasked question. No problems with him. He hadn’t felt any weird weaknesses or dizzy spells since the incident at the walkway. Thatch motioned for Guinevere to continue.

Guinevere ran on silent feet to the first tree then stopped and peered around. She then nodded to Thatch who motioned for Ace to go first. Ace peered around the corner and started.

Two giants lay on the ground, snoring away, one was holding a hammer and the other an axe. Yeah, waking these two would definitely be bad. Best to let them go on sleeping undisturbed.

Ace slipped over to where Guinevere was waiting. She then peeked again to check on the giants and to see if anyone else had entered the area then dodged over to the next tree. Rory came over to Ace and Ace checked with Guinevere as he made ready to move again.

In that moment, his nose tickled, his eyes watered and he boomed a sneeze that echoed throughout the courtyard and maybe even beyond. Ace clamped his hands over his mouth and nose and he struggled to suppress several follow up sneezes, but the first had escaped without any kind of warning. 

The giants snorted and shifted on the ground. Rory went ashen faced and everyone froze. Ace thought his head would explode from all the suppressed sneezes, but he couldn’t seem to stop. His body shuddered as he struggled to stay hidden behind the tree’s trunk while sharing the space with Rory.

Finally the sneezes stopped and everyone held their breath. Nothing happened. After several long moments the snoring started again and Ace finally peeked around the trunk while still holding his hands over his mouth and nose, just in case another fit started. The giants were lying back down, asleep again. Ace sighed in relief only to have Rory grab him by the beads again and shake. Ace was starting to reconsider his necklace since it seemed to be a convenient way for Rory to grab hold of him when he was mad at Ace now that Ace wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“What the fuck are you doing? Trying to get us caught?” Rory hissed, trying to keep his voice down.

Ace’s response was barely audible as he tried to keep his as quiet as possible. “It came on all of a sudden. I would have stifled it if I had realized it was coming.”

“You are such a screw up! How did you ever think you were going to be anything when you mess up like this all the time?”

That was not a fair comment and Ace’s temper began to rise. But before he could respond the tree next to them shook then rose out of the ground, roots and all.

“What we have here, Henry?”

“Looks like intruders, Bunyan.”

“Can we chop them?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Ace and Rory stared in horror as the two now awake and standing giants towered over them. The red haired giant held the tree they had been hiding behind in one hand and rested an axe on his should using the other one. The other had black short curly hair and leaned on the butt of the handle of his hammer that rested on the ground.

“Fuck,” said Ace.


	12. The Axe and the Hammer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the giants are dealt with but now everyone knows where they are.

Henry and Bunyan had been resting in the courtyard after a long day of breaking up and hauling rocks. It wasn’t really hard for them as the two were giants and capable of feats of strength and stamina many times greater than the average human, but they had been doing it all day and now they just wanted to rest.

Henry specialized in breaking up the rock in the quarry so that the workers didn’t have to chip at sheets of rock and boulders with pick axes. He knew how to read the rocks to avoid the crystal veins that might explode if he hit them directly. Bunyan simply took advantage of his devil fruit ability to haul the loose rock from the area so that it could be worked over on the main floor of the quarry where many of the workers chipped through the much smaller rocks seeking out the crystals and carefully clearing the worthless stone away from them.

Bunyan’s devil fruit allowed the giant to turn into a blue ox that was also gigantic. Massive mounds of old volcanic stone was removed each day and picked over for the valuable and rare crystals that impregnated them. Exposed walls revealed thick veins of the purer crystal and more workers carefully cut sheets from the sides and placed them in carts. Bunyan and Henry then pulled those loaded carts to the port once they were full.

Bunyan never used his axe for work, it was just his weapon of choice, since they also doubled as the onsite security in case anyone got any ideas to start a riot. The crystals didn’t break easily but if some were to be destroyed the explosion could set off a chain reaction that would endanger the entire island.

But here they were in the courtyard, well away from the quarry, taking a well deserved break when Henry heard a heated argument start up nearby. Grumbling, he opened an eye and saw two men standing behind a tree. Neither were dressed like the gunslingers that enforced the law here, the scientists that worked in the main building nor the workers who were supposed to remain down in the quarry.

Suspicious, Henry reached over and placed a hand over Bunyan’s mouth before thumping him on the head to keep him from making any noise. Bunyan woke up loud if Henry failed to cover his mouth. Bunyan opened sleepy eyes and glared at Henry. The black haired giant gestured over to the tree and Bunyan looked then rose to his feet. Henry removed his hand and got up as well.

One step and they were by the tree. Bunyan reached down and pulled the tree up by its roots to get a better view of the arguing men. 

“What we have here, Henry?” asked Bunyan. Bunyan was not a smart giant. They obviously didn’t belong here. Their clothes were wrong and one even had pirate tattoos on his back and arm.

“Looks like intruders, Bunyan,” replied Henry. 

“Can we chop them?” asked Bunyan.

“I don’t see why not,” replied Henry as he hoisted his hammer. They were part of the security here on OK Ori Island. Of course, why were pirates infiltrating the place, he had no idea but that didn’t matter. They were intruders and intruders needed to be eliminated.

“Fuck,” said tattooed man.

Henry grinned and brought his hammer down to crush the two.

**********

Ace and Rory dodged the giant known as Henry’s hammer as it came down with crushing force. Ace could sense the haki enveloping the metal head of the huge weapon. It would not end well if he was hit by that weapon. Haki was the spirit or force of will a person possessed that could be used to enhance their fighting ability, either in predicting an opponent’s movements, protecting the body against damage or improving the hardness and attack power of weapons. It could also allow someone to strike and do harm to the otherwise untouchable bodies of Logia Devil Fruit users like Ace. Taking a blow from Henry’s hammer would be the end of Ace. 

The other giant, that had been addressed as Bunyan, wasn’t something for him to personally worry about. That giant couldn’t use haki. His axe didn’t have the same energy as the hammer. The blade would just pass through Ace’s body leaving him unharmed, but non-devil fruit users would still be injured or killed should they get hit by the axe. Rory and the others were in danger from both giants.

The impact from the hammer sent him and Rory flying. Both men bounced several feet away. Rolling, they climbed back onto their feet and scrambled to put more space between them and the giants. Ace glanced over and saw Rory was slow to rise. Ace had taken the fall better than Rory had. As Henry pulled back his hammer to strike again, Bunyan stepped forward with his upraised axe. Ace cursed, he was aiming for Rory whose delayed recovery had left him closer to the giants than Ace.

“Oh hell!” gasped Ace and he turned around, running straight toward the other man.

Rory saw him change direction and shouted in anger, “What the hell are you doing, Dumbass?!”

“Rory! Duck!” shouted Ace, sliding into a horse stance and shooting a twin fire fist at the two giants. Rory dropped into a slide, lying flat on the floor without another word. A pair of burning fists flying in your direction generally would shut up argumentative jerks rather quickly.

Bunyan yelled and swung his axe in a broad wild arc. It cleared Rory’s prone form by mere inches and passed through Ace’s fire body like a hot knife through butter. Ace didn’t even pause as he continued to blast the two with flames. Bunyan staggered back but Henry was holding his ground. Ace had to admire the man even as it meant big trouble for him and Rory.

“Rory, move!” yelled Ace as Henry raised his great hammer with one hand while pushing forward against the blast of fire. His other arm was held out to shield his face against the onslaught of Ace’s flame. Ace doubled the force but Henry pressed forward preparing to bring the hammer down on them, the thing was throbbing with haki.

Rory rolled to get out from under Ace’s stream of fire but it was for too late to allow Ace to escape. Henry was on top of him and if he released the fire for even a moment the giant would bring it down before he could even leap. If he did nothing the same would happen, only a few seconds later.

“Ace!” yelled Thatch. Bunyan had gone after the other two once he had put his clothes out. The commander and Teech had tried to rush the giants to help Rory and Ace but were now struggling to avoid being chopped by Bunyan. Teech’s sword knuckles were insect bites to the big guy and Thatch’s cudgels were doing nothing in obvious damage. Bunyan didn’t come across as being the brightest but he was insanely tough.

Ace didn’t have time to worry about them. He held his gaze on Henry trying to see the exact moment when the giant would move to strike. In that second he would need to roll forward.

Before either man or giant could act, Guinevere flew from the side and slammed a kick straight into Henry’s jaw. The giant grunted and tumbled over, his hammer hitting the ground well away from its target. Ace stopped his fire before he could burn his ally.  
“Gwen!” he called as he ran over to where Thatch and Teech were dealing with Bunyan.

Guinevere jumped back as Henry swiped at her, his arm burned but not out of commission. Giants were crazy tough, he knew that, but this was even crazier than he imagined. The level of fire he had poured on the giant would have turned an ordinary man to cinders. He was only suffering second degree burns and just on his arm. The rest of him appeared to be unharmed.

Suddenly Guinevere was next to him. She spun him around, locking his arm with one hand and jamming an elbow into his throat with the other, the pressure just light enough to not activate his logia defense. Damn she was good.

“You called me ‘Gwen’,” she said. It was impossible to read her voice or expression, but if what he remembered from his lessons on manners from Makino, he may have come across as overly familiar with her by calling her by a shortened version of her name. But was she really going to complain now?!

“Your name is a bit long to be screaming out in a fight,” gasped Ace. It was the only reason why he had said “Gwen” instead of “Guinevere” in that moment. 

She stared at him with her unreadable expression then said, “I accept your reasoning, but you will use Gwen-san when addressing me.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” said Ace. He then looked up and yelled, “Gwen!” Oops! He did it again and right after he agreed to her request. He never was one for honorifics. However, she didn’t say anything. After all, he was yelling because Henry was back on his feet and swinging his hammer toward them. Both leapt in the same direction to avoid the strike, tumbling from the impact.

“Ugh! Why will he not stay down? That kick should have broken his jaw at least,” growled Guinevere in disgust as she rolled back on to her feet.

“How many giants have you fought before?” asked Ace as he regained his.

“None,” replied Guinevere.

“My first time as well,” said Ace. “I’ve heard they’re hella tough. I don’t have any idea how to defeat one never mind two of them at once.”

“We need to get them to attack each other,” said Guinevere.

It was a classic strategy but Ace wasn’t sure it would work. Henry seemed to be too calm and aware of his companion to end up accidently hitting him or being hit by him.

Ace suddenly thought of an idea but he had doubts about its execution. He jumped to avoid another hammer strike then called out to his commander, “Thatch, I’ve got something that might work but you might not like it.” 

“I’m open to suggestions,” called back Thatch as he jumped over the swinging axe. Bunyan appeared to be only growing angrier. Rory had drawn his guns and was firing at the axe wielder but he was doing less damage than Teech.

“It’s going to be rather big and probably attract a lot of attention…” started Ace.

“Ace! Just do it. We’re out of options!” shouted Thatch, tumbling to avoid a kick.

“Gwen, I’m going to need a moment,” he hissed at Guinevere.

“You are a very rude man,” she said without looking at him. Forgot the honorific again. “A moment is probably all that I can give. This one does not appear to be a fool.” She then charged Henry, leaping onto his hammer when it came down and running along the haft to strike at his face again. Henry was ready this time and raised a hand to block her kick.

Ace set to work. He stepped back and began summoning his fire, building and melding it into a huge ball over his head like a great sun. If not for the open space of the courtyard there would have been no room for this attack less he wished to burn the buildings with it as it formed. He hoped the surrounding buildings would obscure the globe of fire he was now holding over his head.

“Guys!” he yelled.

“Shit! That’s huge!” cried Rory already turning to run toward Ace. Thatch and Teech followed. Guinevere kicked Henry one more time, she may have been blocked, but she was driving him closer to Bunyan. Probably hoping one would clock the other with the back swing of his weapon. She saw what Ace had and launched herself off Henry’s shoulder. She rolled when she hit the ground then regained her feet without losing momentum. Ace was thoroughly impressed by this woman.

“FIRE COMMANDMENT! ENTEI!” shouted Ace and hurled the fire globe at the two giants. Bunyan cried out in terror while Henry raised both his hands in attempt to shield himself. The courtyard erupted in flames and the ground shook with the concussion of the explosion. Ace quickly raised a fire shield to try to ward off the worst of the backlash and save his friends from being caught in it. This was really not something he should use when others are around but there had been little choice. This was his biggest attack. If it didn’t drop those two, nothing would.

**********

Bill sputtered as an explosion rocked the building and several bottles of booze crashed to the ground, spilling their contents on the floor when they shattered.

“Well, god damn it, they went and spilled the booze! That’s a waste of good alcohol and a cardinal sin,” he raged. “I’m going to have to take the girls out and give these blokes a lesson in manners. One don’t spill a good man’s drink when he’s relaxing.”  
He stuck his guns in their holsters and headed out to face down whoever it was that had just caused that explosion. They didn’t sound far away.

*******

Crockett, Reid and their men froze at the sound of the explosion. They looked back in the direction they had come from and saw smoke rising near the lounge area they had vacated a few minutes earlier.  
“Bill doesn’t cause explosions,” said Reid in the stunned silence.

“Damn it,” snapped Crockett. “Head back! We’re taking on whoever is blowing up our facility.”

Damn you, Bill, thought Crockett as they ran back up the road. You better be all right!

***********

“What was that?” asked Briar out loud from surprise. He wasn’t really expecting an answer.

“Perhaps it’s Fire Fist,” mused Mary. “He’s a fire user after all. Explosions shouldn’t be outside his ability.”

“Then it seems both parties are here,” said Briar. “This is not good. I need to speak with security immediately.”

**********

“Somebody’s having a party and I wasn’t invited? How rude!” Jane said with a laugh and a toss of her long blonde hair. She then headed toward the explosion that was in the far distance.

*******

“Things sure are noisy around here today,” Ringo complained as he carefully snipped the required leaves off his medicinal herbs for the potion he was making. He fortunately hadn’t been in the middle of snipping when the explosion shook the ground or he might have had to go and have words with the noise makers about ruining his very important plants.

He paused. “I wonder if this has anything to do with certain volunteer test subjects arriving on the island.” He put down his clippers with a sigh. It was certainly sooner than he was expecting.

“I don’t want to be dealing with a fire user,” he moaned.

***********

“Sir, what was that?” asked an alarmed assistant.

“If I were a betting man then I’d say our guests have arrived.” Doc Holiday stared out the window at the rising smoke in the distance. “Guess you’ll be needed soon, Timothy. I’m sure your comrades will be just thrilled to see you.” He glanced back at the regeneration pod to the still form of the revolutionary spy. “I hope you don’t disappoint me like the others. Please be a success this time.”


	13. Trouble in Spades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the situation for the White Beard's becomes worse.

“What the hell?!” cried Sabo. Smoke was rising in the distance and the ground beneath them had just shook with the violence of the distant explosion.

Several slaves cried out in terror. A man called out, “Stay calm that wasn’t in the quarry. There is no need to panic.”

“What if had been?” asked Sabo turning to regard the man.

“Then we would be in grave danger. The crystals are explosive when destroyed and they can set off a chain reaction if they explode in the quarry.”

Sabo paled. Explosive crystals?! What kind of weapon were they powering with these?

Another slave shouted, “That’s the direction of the gunslingers’ lounge.”

“Gunslingers?” asked Sabo, the report had made no reference to that.

“They’re the law around here.”

Oh. Sabo grunted. Timothy had referred to them as the island’s security. “We probably need to speed things up then,” he muttered. He turned around and yelled, “Koala! Our time just got limited.”

“They’re moving as fast as they can,” yelled back Koala. “The Icarus just got in position.”

“I hope all the trouble goes over there and stays over there,” muttered Sabo as he turned his attention on the column of black smoke rising into the sky.

***********

The two giants were down and looking quite crispy in Ace’s opinion. Ace’s chest heaved as if he had just run a marathon and he bent over clutching his knees as he struggled to catch his breath. It shouldn’t have taken this much out of him, but he had been jumping all over the place for several minutes prior.

“Oh for the love of…! That was over kill and you probably alerted every Marine in the facility with that attack,” snapped Rory from behind Ace.

Before Ace could respond Guinevere snapped back, “I do not wish to hear such complaints from the man who insisted on yelling about a sneeze and there by alerted the giants to our presence in the first place!”

“Ace did warn that it was going to be big and flashy,” said Teech as he climbed to his feet. Apparently the man had barrel rolled the last few yards to safety when Ace dropped his big attack. Teech really did move faster rolling than running.

“Rory, enough with the complaints,” said Thatch then he looked at Ace who was still bent over and gasping. “Ace! You all right?”

Ace was getting tired of that question but this time he wasn’t sure. It was getting harder to breath and each breath was more painful than the last, as if he were drowning. Then he began to cough and pain seared his chest. The coughing became more violent to point that inhaling was a serious problem.

“Ace!” shouted Thatch.

Ace was choking, he couldn’t inhale yet his lungs continued to contract in more and more painful spasms. He tasted iron on his tongue but paid no attention as he desperately tried to suck in air between fits. What little air he breathed in, however, caused searing lances of fire to erupt within his chest. He collapsed to his knees, spots dancing before his eyes and his vision clouded in red.

He felt hands press against his back and Thatch’s voice calling to him from a distance as his hearing faded with his strength.

When Ace thought he would pass out, the pain in his chest lessened to a throb and the next few coughing fits were less forceful. He sucked on air as his lungs slowly remembered their purpose. His vision cleared and his ears stopped ringing. Thatch was rubbing his back, helpless to do anything else for the young man. 

Ace looked down and blinked in horror. The ground before him was covered in blood, blood that he coughed up, the sensation of drowning had been from his own blood filling his lungs. Ace patted his chest, he hadn’t taken a single hit, there was no broken ribs, so why had he been coughing blood?

“Ace, your temperature…” started Thatch as he pressed a hand against Ace’s head. Ace knew it was bad by Thatch’s expression and how swiftly he pulled his hand away from his forehead. It wasn’t just residual heat from his last attack. Ace didn’t feel the heat, though, all he felt was cold. Not a good sign.

“Well ain’t that a crying shame,” said a low tenor.

Ace looked to the right. A single man stood on the other side of the courtyard, on the path they had originally been aiming for. He wore a long coat and a broad brimmed brown hat. Ace spotted the hilts of two guns tucked against his legs, but the man leaned to the side and didn’t seem all that stable on his feet.

“Ya went and killed my buddies over there and ya spilled all my booze to boot!” the man said in a slurred voice. “That just ain’t right. Ya don’t come into another man’s home and wreck it like this. I think I’ll be teaching ya some manners about visiting my house.”

The man wobbled and staggered a few step forward. Drunk and alone, he didn’t look like he would be that much trouble for the others to handle. How could he draw his guns let alone shoot in his sorry state? Still Ace felt uneasy. He felt weak and wasn’t sure he could fight at the moment. Not a good feeling for the former captain of the Spade Pirates.

“Pecos,” said Guinevere with a reserved tone. Ace saw every muscle in her body tense.

The man smirked and staggered forward. “Well, well, howdy Gwen! I didn’t know ya were here. Coming to give me that kiss ya owe me?”

Ace grimaced, starting to understand why Guinevere wasn’t happy with being called ‘Gwen’ and resolving to remember to call her by her full name from then on since he was terrible with honorifics.

Guinevere held her ground and let Pecos come closer. Ace had a feeling if the man got with arm’s distance of her he was dead, problem solved, so he said nothing. The others seemed to realize it too and were minding their tongues, hoping the fool would let himself be done in.

Then Pecos stopped and said, “But I don’t think ya’re here for a kiss, Gwen.” He yanked his guns from his hip holsters. The movement was faster than a blink, almost as if they had teleported into his hands rather than were drawn. Pecos fired off several rounds. Guinevere leapt to her right. Rory followed in the same direction. Thatch grabbed Ace and lunged to the left. Teech wasn’t even in the line fire. Great news for him since he couldn’t leap for beans and was the biggest target in the group.

Rory drew his hand guns from his belt and fired back.

“Whoa!” yelled Pecos as he bent and wiggled and practically danced to avoid Rory’s shots. “Nice shooting!” Pecos fired at Rory, completely focused on him now. Rory scrambled for cover and fired back.

Guinevere was coming around wide to keep from being seen by Pecos. Thatch pushed Ace against Teech and rushed the other side. Pecos laughed firing round after round at Rory then suddenly, when Guinevere and Thatch were nearly on him, turned each gun to the side and fired at the pair. Rory fired in that moment, but Pecos bent backwards and the shots passed above his arched belly while his guns remained to the side. Thatch leapt to the left to avoid the shot but Guinevere merely raised her left arm and took the hit, slamming into Pecos with the force of a battering ram.

There was an audible crack as Pecos’s arm broke at the elbow. He didn’t have time for his sloshed brain to register the pain before her right fist struck his temple and he went down like he had been shot. Guinevere tumbled over him, then rolled to her feet on the other side.

“Nice job!” said Thatch, impressed. “Now we better see to that arm.”

“It is not but a flesh wound,” she said with a dismissive wave. She then reached two fingers into the oozing hole and pulled the bullet out. Finally, she tore her own sleeve and fashioned a bandage from it, wrapping her wounded forearm.

“Are all the women in Anglan crazy bad asses like you?” asked Rory, stunned.

“I am a knight,” she replied as if that answered everything. Maybe it did.

“Commander,” called Teech. Thatch turned and headed over toward the big man. Teech looked down at Ace who continued to struggle to breath. “His temperature is getting higher.”

Thatch knelt by Ace. “Ace. How do you feel?”

Ace wanted to lie. He wanted to say he was fine. He wanted to tell Thatch he could still fight. But his knees felt like jelly and it hurt to breath, not as bad as earlier but every breath was like needles being driven into his chest. “Cold,” he answered honestly. “I’m sorry. I should have said something the moment I realized I was hit with Mary’s blood.”

“We don’t know if that’s the cause,” said Thatch.

“Of course it is,” said Ace. “She can make any disease she wants. She just used fast acting diseases because that is the most effective in combat. She did this in hopes I would be stupid enough to come along and cause you all this trouble.”

Rory was silent for a moment. Ace thought for sure he was about to hurl another tirade at him but instead said to Thatch, “We need to get medical supplies. We can’t get back to our ship if he’s like this. There’s no way we can scale the cliff while carrying him.”

“Agreed,” said Thatch.

“There is a medical bay over—,” Guinevere started when a voice shouted from the edge of the courtyard in the direction they had initially entered the area from.

“Hold it right there, Pirates!”

The five looked over and a large group of men dressed and armed similarly to Pecos were running toward them. Worse, they looked both sober and pissed.

“Fuck!” cried Rory.

“Run!” shouted Thatch.

“This way!” shouted Guinevere and took off in a completely different direction from where they had originally been heading. Teech hoisted Ace onto his back and the three took off after Guinevere with the gunman hot on their heels.


	14. Holiday's Evil Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the White Beards dump their troubles onto the Revolutionary Army.

Most of the slaves were through. A few were hanging back, though, instead of leaving with the others. They seemed to be people the other slaves respected and with good reason. They spoke words of encouragement to the more timid whom were second-guessing their actions and had nearly bolted a few times. There had been a small delay as a shift was only just returning to the quarters. Sabo didn’t want to leave anyone behind and it had seemed they had gone unnoticed, but with the explosion he was no longer certain things would remain quiet.

When it appeared there were no others approaching, Sabo turned to the few slave leaders that remained and asked, “Is that all of them?”

A man shook his head and replied, “A few are still missing, not surprising. Every day some never return. The scientists have need of test subjects after all. But more are missing than usual.”

“Test subjects?” inquired Sabo. Timothy wasn’t among the slaves and had probably been taken somewhere else. Being made into a test subject was a terrible fate but it may be where he was now.

“The scientists run various experiments. Some are attempts to cheat death and some are to turn an ordinary man into a weapon. From what I understand about these mines they are the source of fuel for some kind of weapon.”

“Do you have an idea what kind of weapon they are designing?”

“No idea but it isn’t happening here anyway. The crystals we mine get put on a ship as is and leave port once a week. The weapon they power is elsewhere.”

Sabo sighed and checked the surroundings again for enemy movement but all remained still. He turned back to the man and asked, “You said one of the experiments was to cheat death. What’s that about?”

“They’re trying to create a devise that will resurrect a dead person, preferably not too rotted, but if there was any rot that it could be reversed. If they succeed, Marines who die in battle could be restored to fight again, but, from what I understand, that haven’t had any successes.”

“They are testing this on corpses?”

“Ones they made themselves. No point trying to work on a week old corpse if you can’t first revive a five minute old one.”

“They kill people and try to revive them,” stated Sabo. He placed his hand over his face as he tried to comprehend the true horror of the facility and what these people were dealing with. It also didn’t look good for Timothy. If they had used him for their resurrection experiment then he was already dead.

“Milord, most everyone is aboard the Icarus,” said Akatsuki, breaking into his thoughts. Only the slave leaders, including the one Sabo had been talking to, remained. Sabo glanced at the distant buildings. 

If he thought about things objectively, he had accomplished his mission just now. The slaves were rescued; they just had to get the Icarus back out to sea and they would be safe because no one had noticed them yet. He had just learned the nature of the experiments being run on OK Ori Island and they tragically revealed the likely fate of Timothy. A new weapon was indeed being made, but it wasn’t even being manufactured on OK Ori Island so there was nothing to sabotage. They would have to seek out the weapon elsewhere if they wanted to stop its production and the mine itself shouldn’t be sabotaged. If the crystals were as reactive as the people noted it would be a death sentence for Sabo and his group to make such an attempt. There was no way they could pass through the crevasse quickly enough to escape should they make the attempt. There was little reason to remain on the island. He and the others should depart with the Icarus and return to base to make his report.

Still something didn’t sit right with him. A little voice nagged from the darkness of his subconscious, claiming he had missed something.

They had been incredibly lucky and he knew it wouldn’t hold out for much longer. If they went now they would avoid a fight and accomplish their assigned mission. There was nothing else to be done, the Revolutionary Army lost men to these sad circumstances. It was something everyone had to be prepared to accept for the good of the cause. Sabo knew that in his head.

Still… something didn’t sit right with him.

The tiny nagging voice was holding him in place. He wanted to find Timothy, to confirm with his own eyes the man’s fate. He wanted to find the missing slaves and make sure they had the chance to escape instead of just shrugging them off because of their bad fate to be elsewhere when he arrived. He wanted to shut down Doc Holiday so he could never use people like guinea pigs ever again. 

Sabo needed to confirm that resurrection was all that Doc Holiday was attempting here and not something more. There was something that Timothy had tried so hard to warn them about. Something he had risked his life to try to convey. They had some knowledge about a weapon that the mine was supplying. Just not where it was. Timothy could have been expanding on that device or he could have found something else.

The nagging sensation continued to push at his thoughts.

“Milord?”

Sabo turned to the man and asked, “Do you know who’s missing?”

The man turned to his colleagues and they each came back with an answer;

“Mitch, I haven’t seen him since you arrived.”

“Guinevere, she was over working some of the higher areas since she can carry her load further than most of us can.”

“Sarah was last seen flirting with the gunslingers. That girl will do anything to avoid manual labor.”

“Mike wasn’t seen at breakfast, he seems to have disappeared overnight. Probably taken.”

“Damn,” hissed Sabo. One seemed to be a confirmed loss. The others were a problem. Mitch particularly. The fact the man was seen up until he arrived was not a good sign. Sabo smelled a rat. He didn’t know why they hadn’t been pestered before now but he suspected distance and that strange explosion were probably the reason why no one had come to stop them. He remembered the small pirate ship anchored in the hidden cove. The explosion had probably been from them. If the guards were busy chancing pirates that would explain a lot.

He wondered if he should even bother with Sarah since the girl seemed capable of taking care of herself and, more importantly, may be just as bad as Mitch if he tried to rescue her. Someone who volunteered herself to her captors to escape hard labor might think she was in a good place and not want to lose it. Still he couldn’t discount that she was merely doing it to survive in her own way and that she would want to leave if she knew about the escape.

Guinevere sounded like she was in a hard to reach distant location that would eat up a lot of time trying to locate. It would probably be best to send the Icarus on its way and have the women join them on their ship if it turned out they both needed rescuing. Two more people wouldn’t add too much to their small craft.

Then there was also the issue of Doc Holiday…

“Everyone,” he called to his friends. Koala and Hack looked at him while Akatsuki waited patiently. Hack had returned only a moment ago to see what was going on once the last of the slaves had passed through the tunnel. “Send the Icarus away once these folks get onboard. It sounds like there are only two others in hard to reach places. I want to try to get them but we’ll bring them on our ship when we leave.”

Koala frowned but said nothing. Hack looked at Sabo expectantly, he knew his comrade was thinking of more than the two missing slaves.

“Also,” Sabo continued, deciding to drop the other shoe and be done with it, “I won’t be satisfied until I’ve set eyes on Timothy. I need to be able to confirm his death to Dragon not just assume it. And more importantly…” Sabo slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand. “We need to take out Doc Holiday. We can’t let him continue his experiments on people and developing weapons for the World Government at their sufferance.”

“Yes, Milord,” said Akatsuki, prepared as always to follow him into the depths of hell.

Koala sighed and said, “This is way beyond our orders, Sabo.” She must have been talking to the slave leaders as well. “We’ve been lucky not to get into a fight so far. let’s not push it when there is nothing to gain by continuing.”

“Sabo, I…” started Hack then the sounds of gun fire interrupted him. It was distance but rapidly approaching.

“Eh?!” gasped Sabo.

Around the corner appeared a toned woman with long fawn brown hair in slave garb, behind her appeared a red haired man with gravity defying curled bangs, a large man with black hair carrying a smaller man over his left shoulder who was shirtless, followed by a brown haired man firing two guns back down the alley before sprinting after the others.

“Put me down, Teech! I’m fine! I can run on my own two feet!”

“Shut it, Invalid! We can’t afford to have to haul your ass out of the fire if you collapse again!”

“Fuck you, Rory!”

“Rory’s right! You’re staying put ‘til we get you treated!”

“Thatch!”

“If you have enough energy to whine like a dog then I suggest you do something useful and fire on the gunslingers behind us, Ace-kun,” 

Sabo stared in shock at the parade of chaos rushing full speed toward them.

“Guinevere?” gasped the slave leader equally stunned.

That’s Guinevere? thought Sabo. 

She looked over at them as she approached and called to them, “I suggest fleeing. Crockett and Reid are very angry right now.”

“There’s a ship!” cried the slave leader.

“Sorry, just leave me, honor calls,” she cried as she blew past them.

“WHAT?!”

Around the corner the pirates and Guinevere had just appeared from came a dozen men all firing at the fleeing group. The pirates raced by before Sabo could fully process the crazy before him. The gunslingers’ two leaders, one wearing a fur cap with raccoon tail and the other wearing a white broad brimmed hat, probably the ones known as Crockett and Reid, screeched to a halt bringing the rest of the posse to a standstill, much to their men’s confusion.

Crockett and Reid stared at Sabo and the few remaining slaves with him. “A blonde man with a scar over his left eye dressed in black,” the one with the fur cap said.

“Shit!” hissed Sabo. Mitch, the snitch, he was sure of it now. How else would they have a description of his already.

The gunslingers turned their weapons on him. “Come quietly or we’ll be forced to disable you,” said the one with the broad rimmed white hat.

“You fucking pirates, how dare you pass your shit onto us,” yelled Sabo while keeping his gaze locked on the guns of the government men. From the corner of his eye, he saw the man riding on the shoulder pull down his eye lid and stick out his tongue in a childish taunt.

Sabo ground his teeth then shoved the slave leader back as Akatsuki leapt forward. He drew his pipe from behind his back charged after her, screaming even more vulgar obscenities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STRIKE ONE! For Ace/Sabo Reunion.


	15. Ace in Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we go back a few minutes to see how the White Beards led the gunslingers to the Revolutionary Army.

A several minutes earlier…

Crockett and Reid raced into the smoking courtyard, guns drawn and were greeted by the sight of the downed and burnt giants and Bill lying flat on his back with blood oozing from his nose and his eye swelling. He wasn’t moving. Crockett was furious at the sight, someone had gotten this far into the compound and hurt three of his men. He cast his gaze about and spotted five people standing far to the side of the mess, relatively untouched by the blaze that had turned the rest of the courtyard to ash. Four were dressed in the casual garb that lawless sailors favored and the fifth, a woman, was dressed in the same clothes as the slaves in the quarry. That answered how they had made their way in here. They had had a guide.

“Hold it right there, Pirates!” shouted Crockett with both his guns pointed at the five figures standing in the courtyard.

The five looked over at him and his men and blanched.

“Fuck!” cried one.

“Run!” shouted another.

“This way!” shouted the woman wearing the slave garb and the five took off in the opposite direction. The big man hoisting a smaller one who appeared to be, judging by the amount of blood on him and his inability to carry himself, the only causality on their team.

Crockett hesitated a moment as Reid checked on Bill. Reid looked him over then nodded to say Bill was alive. Reid and his men then went to check on Henry and Bunyan. It looked less promising for them. 

Satisfied for the moment that Reid could take care of the situation here, Crockett charged after the fleeing pirates. They ran through alleys, dodged down streets, heading back toward the slave quarters and away from the main buildings that he presumed was their target. This had to be the crew from the White Beard Pirates here to kill Mary so they could cure their shipmates. 

He remembered Doctor Briar was interested in one of the White Beard’s, a newcomer by the name of Ace who had been an independent captain until recently. Unfortunately, he didn’t know which one that was and began to worry that once they caught up to them a lucky shot could kill the very man Doctor Briar wanted alive. Why were scientists so unreasonable?

******

Guinevere lead them through the complicated maze on a path that only she knew. The others followed without comment. Then they came to a drop and saw roof tops below.

“What the—” started Rory as the three pirates slid to a stop, thinking they had taken a wrong turn. Guinevere never slowed down. She leapt off the edge and on to a lower roof top, tumbling to soften the landing. She turned and stared at them, waiting for the others to follow.

“Hurry!” she called when they hesitated.

“Seriously?” squeaked Rory, his face pale.

“No choice then,” muttered Thatch. He stepped back several feet then rushed forward, throwing himself off the edge and hurtling toward the distant roof top. He made it, barely.

Rory muttered an oath then did the same. Thatch had to reach out and catch Rory as he fell short of the target. The man swung down and smashed into the wall of the building while Thatch struggled to keep his place on the roof. He only did so with the help of Guinevere grabbing his waist and digging in her heels, acting as his anchor. It was still a close call.

Ace wondered how Teech was going to manage. The big man had little legs and was not very athletic. Barrel rolling won’t solve the problem this time and how is he going to get me down there? wondered Ace. His legs still felt like jelly and he was dizzy from lack of air and blood loss. No matter how much he panted he couldn’t seem to get enough air.

“Hey Commander!” shouted Teech and raised Ace above his head.

“Eh?”

“Catch!”

“EH?!”

Ace flew through the air calling Teech every foul name he could think of before he landed in the arms of Rory and Thatch. Rory looked a little pale faced but Thatch was calm. Ace felt more shaky than before and he was certain it was not from the fever as his heart threatened to beat its own path out of his chest.

Teech remained on the ledge above, the initial problem of him getting down still unsolved. Ace was not inclined to be sympathetic to Teech’s plight at the moment as he clung to Thatch for stability. A second later he found he didn’t have to be. Teech hurled himself from the ledge then spun himself end over end, somehow his somersaulting flight granted him extra distance in his leap. He tumbled onto the roof and rolled like a ball three more times before returning to his feet.

Ace wanted to light him up so badly.

He stood up, releasing his hold on the fourth division commander, the shock of the toss having cleared his head. His shakes were gone and he felt strong again. He was still panting. Ace concentrated on taking deeper breaths so he would stop looking so weak. He couldn’t keep being a burden to his shipmates.

“Ace?” Teech stood before him, seeming ready to pick him up.

“I’m good,” said Ace.

“Ace, you just coughed up a ton of blood,” said Rory, sounding like he was actually worried about Ace for the first time ever. “You cannot be fine.”

“I am fine!” snapped Ace. “I’m not some run-of-the-mill pirate who goes down so easily over nothing.” Rory snarled, that was clearly a step too far as Rory was considered a common crew and not a super star like Ace or the commanders. He had never been a captain or anyone special, just another gunman on his original ship and so he was on White Beard’s. Ace felt a twinge of guilt for his words but refused to take them back. His pride wouldn’t allow it.

Ace caught Thatch’s disappointed frown and flinched. He was still the rookie on the ship and shouldn’t have been mouthing off to one of the old-timers.

“We have little time for petty arguments,” said Guinevere, ending the conversation. “This way.” She jumped off the roof. The four ran over and saw there were awnings below to jump onto. She was bouncing from one to the next as she descended to the street below. This didn’t seem to be as hard as the last jump. Ace jumped down after her and the others followed. 

Once on the street they hurried down it after Guinevere. Ace wasn’t sure where they were going. He knew Thatch and Guinevere had been talking about a destination when the gunslingers had arrived, but it seemed like they were going in the opposite direction from where they had initially been heading.

*********

Reid looked down at Bill as the other man’s one good eye blinked and he sat up. A nurse had applied a anti-swelling ointment to his black eye and covered in bandages.

“Well, howdy Reid,” said Bill. “Weren’t ya gone looking for that revolutionary with Crockett?”

“We were then we decided to come back to check on you because we thought you had gone and blown up the bar,” replied Reid.

“Ha ha! Ya know I don’t blow up bars. Booze is sacred! So how are my drinking buddies doing?”

“They’ll live but they won’t be working for a while.”

“Oh yeah! Lots of time to drink now!”

“Bill!”

“That fire boy did a real number here, didn’t he? Course he didn’t come out to pretty himself. Coughing all that blood. Not a smart thing to do to use your big attacks so early in the fight when they go n’ do that to ya.”

Reid frowned, remembering the young man that had been carried out. If one was being fair, he imagined the man had only done his big attacks because they were being badly pressed by Henry and Bunyan. There weren’t many who could handle those two without resorting to big attacks via special powers.

“Bill get up,” said Reid. “You still got your good eye and we need to track down those pirates and catch the revolutionaries.”

“Nope! I’m injured! I got to stay here with my lovely nurses and be attended to.”

“I can’t believe you are our best gunman! You never do anything, you worthless drunk!” snapped Reid. He turned to leave then called over his shoulder, “At least guard Henry and Bunyan so that no one comes back and finishes them.”

“Will do!”

Reid turned to leave and Bill called out, “That fire boy was real hurt and they had Gwen with them. Think she might be heading toward the slaves’ medic bay?”

Reid stared at Bill. Dumbstruck by two things. One that Bill did have his moments of perfect insight and two that he, Reid, hadn’t realized that first. He hurried to pull out a den den mushi to contact Crockett. She would likely lead the pirates through the quarters in a twisted path to try to lose pursuit. If his team headed to the medic bay directly, they could get ahead of the pirates and catch them in a pincher move.

**********

Thatch and the others followed after Guinevere. He could hear the pursuit behind them. They had lost some time when they had paused to make their big leap to the roof top and the gunslingers had caught up. The fourth division commander was impressed that the men had taken the leap without hesitation, allowing them to gain ground on the pirates. They still weren’t close enough to start shooting, not with as many sudden turns Guinevere was making.

“Ace, how are you doing?” asked Thatch. He was certain Ace was bluffing. He understood Ace’s feelings of not wanting to be a burden but he couldn’t help worrying for the young man. Ace was not better, and pride be damned, he shouldn’t let Ace run around when his condition was only getting worse.

“I’m fine! Stop asking me that!” snapped Ace. The man’s cheeks were red, the rest of his pallor was white as a ghost, his breathing more labored than it needed to be for the run and his eyes had an unnatural shine to them. He was not fine, his fever was rising and his lungs were still torn up inside.

Thatch needed to step up as the fourth division commander and order Ace to let Teech carry him so he could conserve his strength. He had to stop worrying about the young’s man pride. But Ace was such a stubborn hot head and if he became irrational is could go badly for the rest of them. Ace hadn’t even been on the ship for three months never mind as a full fledged White Beard Pirate. Ace didn’t have the trust of his new shipmates nor trusted them in return, as Rory’s bad attitude could attest to. 

Ace was also wrestling with his earlier screw up that had played a part in this whole fiasco; his failure to warn of the approaching ship. Thatch was of the opinion that knowing about the ship wouldn’t have changed a thing. Even if Ace could see it from his position the cannoneers wouldn’t have and thus couldn’t target it. Once Mary was onboard the same thing would have happened. However, Ace was beating himself up and desperate to make amends. Getting sick now was just one more failure in his mind.

Thatch had made his decision and was about to order Teech to carry Ace no matter Ace’s protests when another group of gunslingers appeared suddenly in the intersection up ahead. Thatch saw the leader and recognized him as one of the men who had appeared in the courtyard. Their pursuers had split up and somehow got in front of them. 

***********

Guinevere slid to a stop and glanced around for an exit as the new group rushed up the street with their guns drawn. She back pedaled and the turned to run back the way they had come. Rory ducked down another street when it became available as their original pursuers appeared in the path they had just run down. He paused and stepped to the side to allow the others to pass as they barreled by, drawing his guns. He would have to offer cover fire now that the gunslingers were within firing range.  
Rory looked up and blanched. Ace had collapsed in the road just shy of the intersection and the two groups were closing fast. No one had noticed because he had ended up last when they had turned around.

 _“I’m counting on you, Rory-kun.”_ Those long ago words echoes in his ears with the voice of an angel. A smile flashed in his mind along with a red hibiscus flower adorning long strawberry blonde hair. _“I’m counting on you, Rory-kun.”_

“Ace!” he shouted, holstered his guns and diving into the intersection, exposing himself to enemy fire, to grab the young man. Ace was burning hot to the touch and wheezing horribly. He clawed at the ground as if he were still trying to rise. Rory dragged the man into the side street. Ace was nearly as big as him with more muscle on his frame since he preferred fist fights to Rory’s guns. Rory cursed his lack of strength as he struggled under Ace’s weight. Fortunately, his yell had caught the attention of his comrades and they had returned.

Teech hoisted Ace onto his shoulder and the four bolted down the street just before the gunslingers made the intersection. The men actually had to slow down so as not to run into each other before making the turn. It bought Thatch and the others a few precious seconds.


	16. Catching Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we return to the present and more sinister things than Spriggans are afoot.

The men took shots at the pirates as they chased but shooting while running was rarely accurate and shooting a moving target was hard. Combined, all it did was hurry the pirates along rather than stop them. However, that didn’t stop the men from trying to hit their targets.

“I’m okay now,” gasped Ace. “I can run again.’

“No! Stay put,” shouted Thatch. “That’s an order.”

“You heard the commander, Ace,” said Teech, adjusting his hold so that his hand now gripped Ace’s belt. If the man tried to force himself off of Teech’s shoulder he would lose his pants. “You stay up there and rest.”

Guinevere took a hard right around a corner as bullets flew past. This street, however, wasn’t as empty as the others. Three people stood to the side of an intersection further down. One was a slave, judging by his clothes, but the other two weren’t. A man and a woman, both dressed in black, stood staring in shock as the group of renegades came racing toward them.

“Put me down, Teech! I’m fine! I can run on my own two feet!” cried Ace, pissed that he was being carried around like a sack of potatoes.

“Shut it, Invalid! We can’t afford to have to haul your ass out of the fire if you collapse again!” cried Rory in irritation. Not the most effective way to get the hot headed fireman to calm down. Guinevere could sense Ace’s rising temperature with her haki and knew his temper and irrational behavior was due to his failing health. Instead of being angry with his insults the others should be getting more concerned.

“Fuck you, Rory!” snapped Ace as he pushed himself up. Teech’s grip held strong to Ace’s belt and unless Ace wanted to burn Teech, he couldn’t escape. Guinevere hoped Ace would remain rational enough to not attack his friends for a bit longer. The medical bay wasn’t far but they needed to lose their pursuers first.

“Rory’s right! You’re staying put ‘til we get you treated!” shouted Thatch over his shoulder.

“Thatch!” The cry sounded closer to a whine as Ace looked over his shoulder and butt as his commander. Guinevere, glanced back. Ace’s face was flushed and she was certain it wasn’t from anger.

“If you have enough energy to whine like a dog then I suggest you do something useful and fire on the gunslingers behind us, Ace-kun,” said Guinevere

“Guinevere?” gasped the slave. Only then did she recognize her team leader, Miguel.

Guinevere called to them as she ran, “I suggest fleeing. Crockett and Reid are very angry right now.”

“There’s a ship!” cried Miguel, a hurried explanation and one that she appreciated. It seemed the other two were here to free the slaves. What timing! Now she didn’t have to feel guilty about leaving the others.

“Sorry, just leave me, honor calls,” she cried in response as she blew past them. Ace and the others had been the one to break her chains first, she owed them. Besides, she wanted to get Briar and Holiday and she might get a shot at revenge for her dead comrades if she stayed with the pirates.

“WHAT?!” Miguel’s confusion was understandable. He was not an Anglan who would understand her honor with such few words and there was no time for a more detailed explanation. He was just going to have to accept that she was not going with him and the others. She wished them all the best.

From around the corner came the gunslingers, Crockett and Reid in the lead, firing their guns in the hopes of hitting their prey. To Guinevere’s shock and dismay, the two came to a screeching halt bringing the rest of the posse to a standstill. They seemed transfixed by the three standing in the intersection.

Crockett and Reid stared a moment longer then Crockett said, “A blonde man with a scar over his left eye dressed in black."

Oh were they originally out looking for this group? Guinevere’s guilt returned as the gunslingers abandoned chasing them and turned on the slaves’ rescuers.

“Shit!” hissed the man in black.

“Come quietly or we’ll be forced to disable you,” said Reid.

“You fucking pirates, how dare you pass your shit onto us,” yelled the man in black. Guinevere grimaced then sensed the man’s rage grow and detected a sense of mischief coming from Ace, his mood suddenly light.

The black clad man shoved Miguel to safety and drew this weapon, a lead pipe from his back as the woman leapt forward. Guinevere’s guilt disappeared It seemed the rescuers were perfectly capable of handling themselves. After all, if they were truly in trouble, the man wouldn’t have time to hurl insults at them for leading the gunslingers to them.

************

Ace watched the two in black fight with the gunslingers. The woman made him think of the old stories of ninjas that had fascinated him and his brother so long ago and felt some of that old childhood glee emerge at the sight of a ninja fighting.

The man was fighting with a pipe like he and his brother did when they were kids. He wanted to point and laugh at the sight and declare the man was fighting like a little kid but he was kicking all their asses. Just as he and his brother did way back when. His mind flashed on a memory he thought he had buried. A boy wearing a top hat with goggles on it and a blue coat kicking and slamming his pipe against adults many times his size with a gaped toothed grin.

Sabo.

Ace felt his feelings darken into sadness at the memory. There had been two brothers there with him, wielding pipes and kicking asses many times their size. Sabo, however, was dead. Killed years ago by a Celestial Dragon when he had been trying to escaping his controlling parents. Killed while trying to grasp freedom.

Why did he remember him now of all times? Was it because the man also wore a top hat and wielded a lead pipe?

“I should feel bad that we led that group right to them but those two have some nice moves,” said Ace and he snickered feeling unusually giddy despite wanting to cry. Colored lights filled his vision and he gladly accepted the distraction from his dark mood.

*****************

“They do appear capable of handling themselves,” agreed Guinevere without looking back. Observational haki at its finest, allowing people to see without seeing.

“Ace, how are you feeling?” asked Thatch for the umpteenth time as they ran.

“Wow! Fairies do have tails, well there ends that mystery, and they’re so colorful!” Ace giggled like a kid.

“Oh no,” groaned Rory.

“Stay with us, Ace,” said Thatch. 

“But I’m right here! I can’t go anywhere because you won’t let me down,” Ace pouted while slapping Teech’s shoulder to emphasis his point. Teech just ignored him.

Thatch turned his head to speak to Guinevere. “Are we still heading in the right direction to that medical place you were talking about?”

“You know what’s really funny, Rory?” Ace said.

“No, Ace, I don’t,” said Rory, exasperated.

“Yes, we are heading to the medical bay they keep for the slaves,” responded Guinevere.

“The guy in black looked a lot like someone I knew.”

“That’s nice, Ace.”

“Only this guy’s lots bigger and sorta ugly.”

“I wouldn’t have thought of him as ugly,” said Teech.

“Well not when compared to you, he isn’t,” replied Ace. Teech laughed and Ace laughed as well then slapped Teech harder than before while shrieking, “SPRIGGAN!”

“Yow! Ace, what the hell!” cried Teech.

“There was a freaking spriggan on your shoulder! It was going to bite! There hella nasty biters. They take whole chunks out of you!”

Thatch glanced at the hallucinating young man. “I can’t believe it’s this bad already.”

“His hallucination impresses me,” said Guinevere with a smirk. “He’s more imaginative that I first took him for.” Thatch glared at her. 

“I’m so glad somebody finds this amusing,” snarled Rory.

**********

Bill looked down at Crockett who was buried up to his neck in the ground, the entire section of the quarry cracked and broken with pieces lifted up like pillars. “Well shucks, Crockett, how’ja ever accomplish this?”

Crockett, who was a bear at the moment wearing a raccoon skin hat, growled furiously at Bill before snapping, “Just get me out of this!”

Their men were scattered everywhere and unconscious. Impact craters littered the barren landscape and poor Reid was pinned five feet off the ground with two other men by spikes going through their clothes.

“I thought ya’all were chasing pirates,” said Bill without making a single move to help. “How’ja end up like this? I mean ya had two dozen of our finest with ya’all.”

“We found the revolutionaries and changed targets,” replied Crockett with a growly huff. “They were the original assignment so I couldn’t just ignore them.”

Bill stared at him for a moment then said, “This reminds me of the proverb about some hunter trying to catch a black hare and a white hare and coming home empty handed.”

Crockett the bear bellowed his fury but Bill just got up and walked away. He strolled up to one of the nurses attending the injured gunslingers and sat down next to her. “Might want to leave him there for a while ‘til he cools his head a bit.” He then turned his attention back to Crockett. “You just sit tight and think about what I said, Crockett. We can share a drink later when ya aren’t so buried in yar work.” He looked over at Reid. “Hang in there.”

“You’re terrible,” said Reid.

“Want a drink?” asked Bill holding up a bottle to Reid, though it was still too far away for the man to take it.

Reid rolled his eyes then said, “Sure. Let me down and I’ll join you because after this I can sure use one.”

“REID!” bellowed Crockett. Bill laughed and began shooting the space beneath the spikes that pinned the man’s arms to the wall. Reid came tumbling down once enough of the rock wall had been chipped away to rob the spikes of their support.

“By the way, Bill, didn’t I ask you to look after the giants?”

“No worries. Jane’s there.”

“Oh.”

*******

“Wow, well done, just how I like my meat,” said Jane with a whistle as she surveyed the damage done to Henry and Bunyan.

“Oh shut up, Jane,” groaned Henry. The giants looked like a pair of oversized mummies.

“I didn’t even get a chance to transform,” cried Bunyan. He sniffed.

“What? Ya didn’t even have a chance to show off yar pretty blue ox self, Bunyan?” asked Jane astonished. “Now that’s just rude! If they were going to barbeque ya they could have at least waited until ya were a proper side of beef.”

“Oh shut up, Jane,” said Bunyan. Jane laughed shrilly.

********

“It seems Crockett and Reid were sidetracked by their original assignment and then defeated. The pirates should be heading for the slaves’ medical bay,” came Briar’s words from the mouth of the den den mushi.

“I heard Reid’s initial report. So I’m already here, but this really is a bad match up, Doctor. I deal in plants and you’re sending me to capture a fire wielder.”

“The reports indicate he’s injured and being carried around by his comrades. Take advantage of his current weakness to capture him. Dispose of the others as I have no use for them and don’t want you wasting efforts trying to catch them as well.”

“I understand, Doctor Briar. I will capture Fire Fist. After all, it doesn’t appear anyone else has any special powers.”

“I’m counting on you, Doctor Ringo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I made a shameless Fairy Tail reference in this chapter.


	17. Calamity Jane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sabo and friends end up in a serious jam.

Sabo, Koala, and Hack ran up the road toward the main buildings. Akatsuki darted from roof top to roof top, scouting the area ahead for any sign of trouble. They had managed to defeat the gunslingers and get the last few slaves to safety aboard the Icarus. The captain wasn’t thrilled that Sabo and the others were remaining but didn’t argue the point.

“Just get your business done quickly and rendezvous with us,” he said in his usual gruff manner. The captain was once a marine captain that had become disillusioned to the whole concept of justice, at least the type the World Government was selling. Like many revolutionaries, he had strong views and morals that didn’t align with the World Government’s and, like the others, he had had the strength of will to stay the course rather than compromise them.

“I’ll give you one night, but come dawn I head back to Baltigo on my own,” he warned.

Sabo had understood. If something happened to them, there would be no way for the captain to know. Setting a time limit was his only defense against waiting indefinitely and getting captured or agonizing when the time to leave should be and fearing he was leaving too soon.

Dawn was only a few hours away so Sabo and the others had to hurry. Their little boat, while capable of it in a pinch, was not meant for long distance sea travel. Returning to Baltigo would become a harrowing journey if they failed to return to the Icarus on time.   
Akatsuki jumped down in front of him. “Milord, the level changes abruptly just ahead. It appears this area is part of a lower section. The main buildings are on a higher level that cannot be reached from this pathway.”

“It appears it was designed to segregate the slave area from their laboratories and living area of the scientists and security,” said Koala in a monotone voice. “I guess they weren’t comfortable with the idea of slaves having easy access to their sleeping quarters.”  
Sabo bit back a sarcastic comment that would express his feelings on the whole concept. If one were keeping slaves that outnumber the guards twenty to one, at least, and they worked in shifts around the clock then it was probably best not to let them have access to certain areas of the compound. A revolt could easily have ended the slaves’ troubles if they could have slit a few throats in the dark of the night.

“There has to be a way for the enforcers and goods to travel to and from this place. How else could they take people from here for experimentation?” said Sabo, hissing his disgust at the last part.

“Did you see any stairs that could take us up to the next level, Akatsuki?” asked Hack.

“I saw no stairwells leading up, but there is a building that appears to link the two areas west of here.” She gestured in the direction with her right hand.

“Right,” said Sabo with a sigh. “There will probably be guards at that location but what choice do we have? They know we’re here and it can’t get any more hazardous than it already has.”

“Not to mention, with those pirates running around their attention is divided,” said Koala. She grinned as Sabo glowered at her. 

“Sabo, I understand your feelings but we’ve been compromised already,” said Hack. “They know we’re here and I’m certain if they hadn’t been distracted by those pirates, the gunslingers would have appeared sooner and probably in a better position to take us than they were. We would have been at a complete disadvantage. They have to know that we’re coming and will go in that building. It will be a death trap and we’re not going to gain anything by pushing it further.”

It was sound logic, but Sabo couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that they didn’t have as complete a picture as they thought they did. That there was something more going on.

Sabo shook his head and said, “We’ll just have to be ready for anything, then.”

*********

It took several minutes of running down empty streets before they reached the building Akatsuki had spotted from the roof tops. Sabo considered trying to find another entry just to throw off security but Akatsuki couldn’t spot another one from her vantage point. Either this was the only one or any others were ridiculously far away. Sabo suspected the latter as OK Ori was not a small island.

They approached the building with care but there were no guards stationed outside nor any windows that would allow someone to watch from within. It also meant there were no alternate points of entry for them to try. They would have to go through the door.  
Sabo exhaled then sprinted across the open street, stopping outside the door and pressing an ear against it to listen for activity within. He heard nothing and his observational haki detected no one on the other side. He didn’t like it. There should have been someone to watch this area since it would allow others to advance to the next level, unless they had all been committed to the chase and thus were lying sprawled out back at the quarry where he and his comrades had left them. He somehow couldn’t believe the security here was that careless.

He signaled the others to approach then grasped the handle on the door and slowly turned it. It wasn’t locked and it opened without a sound. Even more suspicious. It should have been, at the very least, barred. Sabo hesitated. This was where they either turned back because of the growing danger or pressed forward despite it. This felt so much like a trap that he was ready to turn around and leave right then. How could he ask his friends to continue risking their lives when all the evidence suggested it was completely unnecessary?

Still that nagging feeling persisted.

He stepped into the building and looked around, pipe raised, ready to strike if something emerged from the shadows, but there was nothing. He scanned the room, there was a broad staircase in the back but nothing else. Pillars held the ceiling aloft and crossbeams hung a few feet below the ceiling, a sniper’s perfect perch, only these beams were empty. The stairs went up through the ceiling, vanishing from sight.

He motioned for the others to follow. The four slowly climbed the stairs to the next level, anxiety growing with every unchallenged step. There were no floors between the first and top one. The stairs just spiraled up through the vertical tunnel. A perfect place for an ambush but, again, no one was there. Did the guards really over commit themselves to chasing the pirates?

When they reached the landing of the top floor they were met with another empty room and unguarded door. Sabo looked around, scanning the crossbeams above, still no one. Uneasy and eager to escape the place, he hurried to the door. He froze when a feeling of unease washed over him.

“Well howdy, boys and girls! Did ya think it would really be so easy?”

Sabo whipped around in time to see a figure drop from the ceiling, a woman with a long tan coat and brown broad brimmed hat in the fashion of the security here on OK Ori Island. Sabo raised his pipe up and bared his teeth. How had he failed to notice her?  
He glanced up and gasped. Gunslingers sat on every crossbeam in the shadow of the intersections. From the landing he wouldn’t have been able to see them and somehow they had all hidden their presence from his haki. He had never heard of such an ability that allowed someone to hide from those with observational haki before. He glanced down as the woman began to laugh at his confusion.

“What a calamity to suffer when your haki fails to notice such an obvious ambush,” mocked the woman and Sabo inhaled sharply as did his companions that stood behind her.

“Calamity Jane, huh?” he hissed. The report had had a nice fat paragraph on her presence here, though it had been hard to believe. “The woman who has the power to bring misfortune at will. I hadn’t wanted to believe that you would actually have been let onto such an island as this. Not with your ability.”

“So I’m famous,” she said with a mad grin. “Then ya might as well as surrender before another calamity befalls ya, boy.”

“It seems someone messed up somewhere letting you enter here,” said Koala both horrified and outraged. “This is reportedly an extinct volcano but I bet your power could wake it up and kill everyone here.”  
“Uh-huh but I just remember to keep the scale small and then there’s no problem,” replied Jane, never losing her grin. “So what will it be, boys and girls? Yar surrender? Or yar heads?”

“How about I choose to offer yours instead?” said Sabo.

“Ya’re funny.” Several men dropped to the ground around his friends. “Let’s fight then.”

They could shoot us from the safety of the beams without any risk of friendly fire. Why did some of them drop to the ground? wondered Sabo. Then he realized it when his eyes happened across the landing that the gunman now barred with their bodies. It was to keep them from escaping. Sabo and the others could dodge bullets and escape down the stairs or run out the door. They needed the boots on the ground to keep them from bolting, even as it made it harder for the ones remaining on the beams to shoot for fear of hitting their comrades.

Jane snickered then drew two pistols from her waist. “I’m going to have ya dance for me little man. Ya can dance right?”

Sabo blinked then his eyes widened as he realized what she was getting at. She opened fired on his shins forcing him to high step to avoid the shots as fast as he could. He tried to hop closer to her so he could club her with his pipe, but she pirouetted away from him without skipping a single shot.

His companions were in similar distress. The gunslingers on the ground were actually good with their fists as well. The three were struggling to fend their attackers off and dodge the occasional shot that came their way when they knocked their opponents back a step, leaving them no opening to counterstrike. 

Sabo continued to dance and dodge both Jane and the sniper’s bullets as he tried to get closer to take her out, but she was not giving him a single chance. She laughed and mocked him as he struggled. He didn’t have time to use Dragon’s Breath as that maneuver took a minute to prep and ran the risk of dropping his friends hundreds of yards to the level below.

Then something rough and snake like fell around his neck. Before he had time to process it was a rope, it went tight, cutting off his air flow, and he was pulled into the air. Jane laughed her insane delight as Sabo struggled to loosen the rope from around his neck, dropping his pipe in the process. The noose was so tight, he couldn’t even slip his fingers around it try to loosen it. He kicked in the air and pulled trying to relieve the pressure on his neck and suck in air.

“SABO!”

“MILORD!

His friends’ cries of despair echoed in the room. They couldn’t help him. The fist fighting gunslingers were keeping them pinned in their circle and none could spare a moment for him.

Damn! Damn! Damn! thought Sabo as spots appeared in his vision. It had been the perfect trap and they were going to die because of his poor and selfish decision.

As darkness crept into vision, flames erupted from the stairs and filled the room.


	18. Ringo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a tricky scientist arrives to capture Ace.

Thatch growled in frustration. They stood within the medic bay at last and, despite being one regulated to slaves, it appeared to be decently equipped. They had shaken all pursuers, in large part due to their run in with the other group of intruders. Here was the medicine they needed to treat Ace who was lying across Teech’s shoulders quiet and unresponsive now. The young man’s rasping breath the only indication he was still alive. Teech had adjusted how he was carrying Ace once the man had gone limp, carrying him piggyback instead of like a sack of potatoes. However, their brief moment of triumph was shattered by the man that now stood in the middle of the bay, tossing seeds in his hands.

Thatch drew his steel cudgels from his belt. He didn’t know what the man was capable of. He didn’t appear to be the combat type. His physique was skinny and underdeveloped and a pair of glasses graced his nose. He just didn’t seem the type who could nor would fight a group of pirates. Yet he stood before them with confidence, a smug grin on his face, tossing seeds.

It was those seeds that worried Thatch.

If we fight here we risk damaging the medic bay and possibly destroying the very supplies we came here to get, thought Thatch. He wondered if there was a way to lure the man outside but didn’t think their enemy would be so foolish. He seemed to know they needed the bay; he had been waiting for them, after all.

I bet one of the gunslingers reported Ace’s condition. That’s how they got ahead of us. They know their area as well as Guinevere and possibly better. They must have realized where we were heading and were able to cut us off. Guinevere had been trying to lose our pursuers and was not taking the most direct route at the time.

Thatch sighed as he slid his feet slightly while keeping his eyes focused on the man’s hand with the seeds. He must be a devil fruit user and those seeds are related to his power somehow. Thatch tried to think of what fruit would use seeds, but his knowledge of devil fruits was limited to what the crew had encountered and he never encountered a type that required seeds.

Guinevere remained silent and wary. It probably meant she had never seen this man before and she was equally on guard.

He doesn’t seem to be security. Is he one of the scientists working here? wondered Thatch growing even more concerned. Scientists who could stare down fighters probably had any number of tricks they could employ like gasses, potions, acids and any other items that could incapacitate or kill. And again there were those seeds he kept tossing.

“You wouldn’t mind terribly just walking out and letting us treat our friend would you?” asked Thatch. The fourth division commander didn’t think for one second that the man would, but they were getting nowhere staring at each other and Ace was getting worse. Thatch couldn’t bring himself to attack without knowing what the man was capable of. 

“That would be the fire user who is need of medical assistance, right?” the man responded. “I was worried about facing you when your group had such a person, but was assured that he was not an issue. I’m sure relieved to find that is the case. It will make capturing him easier.”

Thatch sank a little deeper into his stance at the man’s words. Guinevere similarly settled herself, raising her fists and Rory cocked the hammers of his guns. “Capture him?” whispered Thatch.

“It was such a bothersome order,” said the man with a grin, not intimidated by their threatening posture. “Capture the fire user and kill the rest. For me to hold back so as not to kill the fire user would have been impossible simply because he is a fire user but with him already out of commission I just have to deal with you. And I can kill you without any problems.” 

Thatch gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. The man was out numbered four to one and he wasn’t afraid of them at all. He had only been concerned about fighting Ace. “Why is Ace so special? Is it his devil fruit you want?” Thatch slid his feet as the conversation continued, moving ever so slowly closer. If he could sneak within reach, he could strike the man down with a single blow before that smug bastard knew what happened.

“Oh no, that would be easy enough to take and I wouldn’t have to keep him alive to do it,” said the man. 

“Then what do you want him for?” Keep talking, Squint, thought Thatch, I’m almost within reach.

“Because he is incubating a virus that Doctor Holiday had on special order from Doctor Mary,” replied the man and Thatch froze, shocked by the revelation. “I knew she needed a person to incubate her viruses first,” he continued, “or else it can’t be used, but why did she place such an important one in an outside body instead of using the ones we had available? And why not just do it again with our incubators instead of insisting on capturing this one?”

Thatch mind raced as he felt despair fill him. So he had been exposed to one of Mary’s viruses. That witch! She put a delayed one in him just so he would show up here with it. Was that her plan from the start? To attack the crew in order to force Ace to come here with this special virus?

“You really don’t know why Ace was picked?” hissed Thatch.

“Not a clue.”

“Do you know what it was she Infected him with?”

“Nope, not my project. I just know that Doctor Holiday wanted it for his project, he has several running simultaneously so don’t bother asking what project because I don’t know that either.”

“You don’t know a whole lot for someone who appears to spend his whole day in a lab making things explode.”

“Hah! I have my own projects to sell to the World Government, thank you very much. Like these for instance.” The man tossed the seeds high and snapped his fingers. The seeds exploded into a rush of green that shot toward the four.

Thatch cursed his hesitation and rushed the man, but the man smiled and the floor erupted into a mass of writhing pale vines. They tangled his legs and thorns pierced his skin. Thatch swore. He had thought he had been taking advantage of the man’s need to talk, but he forgot the man had been waiting for them here. He had had time to set everything up and probably let Thatch think he was creeping up on him, because it got him closer to his trap.

A yell turned Thatch’s attention behind him. The seeds that were tossed had matured and giant plants with gaping mouths like a venus fly trap were snapping down on his comrades. Teech had propped Ace against the wall so that he could better fight the man-eating plants. Thatch pulled his leg but the vines were strong and the thorns long and wickedly hooked. He needed blades to hack at them if he were going to free himself.

“Teech! I need you!” shouted Thatch.

“Coming, Commander!” replied Teech as he sliced off the head of one of the plants. He turned and dashed over as fast as his little sausage legs could take him. Guinevere kicked and punched the underside of the mouths, but, without a bone structure of any type, the blows merely knocked the snapping mouths back. They swung back for another attack a few seconds later. She could defend herself but she couldn’t stop them. Rory was in a similar situation. He had released the hammers of his guns so they wouldn’t go off accidentally, gripped the barrels, and wielded them like short clubs to drive back the heads. No brains or hearts to shoot in these plants. They would need Teech if they were to have any hope of ending this before they collapsed from exhaustion.

Teech got to work cutting his commander free of the vines. Thatch stepped out of the foliage, blood flowing freely from the wounds, and hissed. He tore at his pant legs and bound the lacerations. He then looked back at the others and noticed to his horror that the plants Teech had cut were still alive and both stem and head were regenerating. Now the number of man-eaters had doubled.

Teech hissed when he saw what Thatch did. “Bloody hell, how are we supposed to win?” he gasped.

Thatch grimaced then looked over toward Ace. The man had complained about fighting a fire user so he was certain Ace was his weakness. Nothing would regenerate if it were burned to ash.

Ace, however, wasn’t where Teech left him.

“What?!” gasped Thatch. “Teech! Where’s Ace?”

“Eh?”

Thatch scanned the room that was now floor to ceiling plants and spotted a third type that was shaped like a flower about to bloom and twice as big as a man with the plant controlling scientist standing next to it. Vines were stretched out from its base and at the other end was Ace being dragged along the floor by his feet. The writhing thorny vines moved to clear a path for the ailing young man and to keep a barrier between their captive and the rest of the group. 

“Ace!” shouted Thatch. He wondered if he could jump across, but the big plant flung out more vines as if to show that it would knock him from the air and into the thorn barrier if he dared. “ACE!”

Ace blinked and slowly looked around, confused. Thatch shouted again, “Ace! Flame on! Now!”

Ace at least heard and understood him. His flared up and the plants surrounded him caught fire instantly. Fast growing and mobile were definitely bonuses, but they seemed to be more vulnerable to fire that typical green plants. Ace stopped sliding and Thatch raced toward him as soon as the thorn vines were ash. He lifted the young man onto his shoulders and hurried back to the others.

Meanwhile the fire was racing along the path of the thorn vines, consuming everything green that was touching them. The giant bulbous plant went up in a spectacularly flamboyant fashion, the scientist controlling them leaping away hissing as he beat out the tiny flames on his clothing, and losing his smile in the process. Then the man-eating plants writhed as the fire moved on to them. Ace’s little flame up had had more success than Thatch had thought it would. The rest of the room was only slightly scorched.


	19. Rory's Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rory shows his nice side. 
> 
> But don't tell Ace.

Guinevere didn’t hesitate. She leapt forward as soon as the path was clear, charging the man before he could lay down anymore seeds. Rory switched the holds on his guns and began firing. The scientist huffed in exasperation and ran out a back entrance. Guinevere followed only as far as the door, opened it to check what was on the other side then slammed it shut and dragged a cabinet over to prop against it. Thatch had caught a sea of green beyond the doorway and thought the woman smart to prevent any return trips by the man. At least through the entrance that would come with reinforcements of the green variety.

Thatch laid Ace down on the exam table. With the immediate threat gone, the team switched their focus back to the original reason they were there. He gazed down at the young man whose chest heaved with the effort to draw in air and gritted his teeth, feeling particularly helpless. Rory opened drawers and cabinets as he looked through the supplies.

“None of this stuff will do us any good,” said Teech. “If that guy is right and Ace is actually sick with that woman’s virus then nothing we do for him is going to help and besides none of us are doctors. We don’t know what to give him anyway.”

“Teech! Enough!” snapped Thatch, stress and worry taking their toll on his temper. “The sooner we find Mary the sooner this nightmare will be over for all our friends, including Ace, however…” Thatch paused placing a hand on Ace’s forehead. It was searing hot to the touch. “Ace won’t last that long if we don’t at least try to fight it.”

Rory paid the men little heed as he went through the room, pulling various items out and setting them on the counter. He went up to the book shelf, scanning through the various selections until he found the one he was seeking. He pulled it out, opened it and began flipping through the pages.

“Rory?” Thatch called.

“I used to want to be a doctor, but I lost the motivation and turned to pirating instead,” said Rory waving the book before him. “I’m no ship’s doctor but I might be able to help.”

Thatch smiled feeling hope return to him. 

“Why would you give up such a noble profession?” asked Guinevere.

Rory looked down at Ace then at the book in his hands. “I was angry and so full of hate that I couldn’t even think about helping other people, because no one had helped my older sister when she needed it. Well, we weren’t actually related by blood, but she was always there for me and I looked up to her. So I thought of her as my older sister. She was killed by the Marines because her lover turned out to be a pirate. Someone in the village tipped them off for a reward. Never did find out who. They took her child away too. Her parents died soon after from a broken heart. I remember the smile she had when she told me. She was so happy to become a mother. She asked me to help look after the little guy once he was born because his father wasn’t going to be around. I was so eager to return the kindness she had shown me when I had no family of my own. So honored that she wanted me to be big brother to her child.”

“I’m sorry, Rory,” said Thatch. Everyone went out to sea for various reasons. Not all of them were happy ones.

“Don’t be. That all happened a long time ago. Anyway, I need to figure out what to give Ace. Since this is a manufactured germ, it would be best to attack the symptoms and give him some antiviral medicine to try to give his immune system some relief. However, I have to be careful of what I give him since drugs will interact and change how they behave depending on what they are.”

Rory put on a stethoscope, listened to Ace’s heart and lungs and then checked his temperature. Ace’s brief moment of consciousness had slipped by and he was once again unresponsive. Rory thumbed through the book formulating his battle strategy. Decided, he went over to the counter and filled four syringes with different medicines of various amounts.

“You’re using four?” asked Teech.

Rory glared at him and said, “I’m not a doctor, I don’t know how to properly mix them. This is the only way I can ensure he is getting the full dose of each type. Ace is a big boy, he can get handle four little pricks.”

“How long will the effects last?” asked Thatch.

“A few hours,” Rory replied. “I’m taking the supplies with us. It’s going to be a long trip home.”

“I will pack the bag if you would find that acceptable,” said Guinevere.

Rory nodded, “I’d appreciate that very much.” Guinevere got to work while Rory came over to Ace and injected him with each needle one at a time. Ace grunted and Thatch quickly restrained the young man less he thrash about in his fevered state. 

“It’s generally bad practice to reuse needles but I can’t keep switching them out so these are Ace’s needles until we get back to the Moby Dick,” said Rory. Thatch thought it strange for him to say that as he and Teech wouldn’t have known better if he hadn’t mentioned it. Rory was probably the one most bothered by reusing the needles because of his earlier education in the field. Saying it out loud lent more weight to an idea that ran counter to his early training and would have interfered with him doing what was necessary for their circumstances.

“It will take a few minutes for the medicine to take effect,” said Rory as he carefully returned the spent needles to their case and then placed it in the bag Guinevere had prepared. “In the mean time, Commander, if you would sit down, please, so I can tend to your wounds?”

Thatch looked surprised then down at his bandaged shins. “I’m fine.” Rory glared and Thatch chuckled before hopping up onto the exam table next to Ace to allow Rory easier access to his injured legs. This was a nice side of Rory that the crew rarely saw. He hoped the man would show it more often.

Rory undid the makeshift bandages and hissed. Thatch did as well. The wounds were puss filled and discolored. Why were they not hurting? Guinevere mutely handed over the iodine and a cloth to Rory so he could clean them. Well, they would be now. Thatch gritted his teeth and hissed as Rory got to work.

Rory was not a gentle hand, but he was quick and efficient. Thatch held it in and several minutes later the wounds were clean and raw pink. Those blasted thorns must have had some sort of poison on them. Good things Rory was on it as their pseudo-doctor or Thatch may have been the next one to go down. Rory applied an ointment to them and the screaming of insulted nerves quieted down to a mere throb. Finally, he bandaged them with proper wraps.

“Thanks,” said Thatch. “I guess this is why doctors technically have the highest authority on the ship.”

Ace was starting to rouse behind him, groaning as he slowly came to. His cheeks were still flushed with fever and Thatch could feel the heat radiating off him, but it was less intense than it was before.

“Commander, about what I said before…” said Rory in a hushed voice.

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell Ace.”

Thatch stared at Rory for a moment then slid off the exam table as realization dawned on him. “Fine, I won’t say anything and neither will the two of you.”

“Yes, Commander,” said Teech with a shrug.

“I generally do not take orders from pirates but this is a personal matter. I understand when it comes to such matters, it is better for the individuals involved to sort it out. Particularly as I am a stranger to you and it is not place to judge such things nor interfere with your desires.” Thatch blinked. Guinevere had a funny way of simply saying she understood. Then he thought about it a bit more and wondered if she understood as completely as he did, that she had caught the hint that Rory had dropped with his request.  
Thatch nodded to her and decided it didn’t matter. She had promised not to say anything to Ace and let Rory decide when and if he would tell the young man. While Thatch felt he should encourage Rory to speak frankly with Ace about his past, he knew it was still up to Rory. After all, if he understood the nature of Rory request, then he could guess that the missing child was most likely Ace himself. It explained everything about Rory’s behavior toward Ace.

“Are you back with us, Ace?” asked Thatch when the young man tried to sit up.

“Uh, my head is throbbing,” groaned Ace as he held his forehead.

Thatch sighed and glanced at Teech. “Sorry to do this again, but could you carry Ace while we search for Mary.”

“I can do that,” said Teech.

“No, I can run now,” said Ace.

“No!” snapped Rory. “I gave you medicine to help ease the burden on your body but you need to rest as much as possible. You aren’t cured, Ace. All our efforts will be for not if you wear yourself out again needlessly.”

Ace glared and opened his mouth to protest but Thatch cut him off. “Doctor’s orders, Ace, and I agree with them. You’ll stay with Teech unless we end up in a fight. If you save your strength for the fights that will be enough. I don’t want you wasting what little strength you have at this moment running around. Understand?”

Ace pouted but nodded his head. Then he eyed Thatch suspiciously. “What do you mean ‘Doctor’s orders’?”

Thatch grinned and said, “Rory has some medical knowledge and knew how to treat you so he is our resident doctor.”

Ace stared at Rory stunned then muttered, “Thank you.”

Rory looked surprised at Ace’s thanks and seemed to soften a bit. “We’re comrades aren’t we? It was the least I could do.”

Thatch looked around the room feeling impatience creeping in. They had been in a known location for fifteen minutes now. Guards should be on their way if that guy had reported his failure. He was actually surprised they hadn’t been attacked before now. Perhaps the path between here and the main area wasn’t that short. Either way they needed to leave now before someone came.

“Okay, people, let’s move out.”

*********

“You weren’t able to capture them.”

“I’m afraid not. Fire Fist roused himself enough and burned all my plants. I can’t face pirates one on one never mind four on one without them.”

“You did good to get away, what did you notice about Fire Fist?”

“He’s very ill. The blood sample I was able to take when I grabbed him shows abnormal white blood cell activity. I’m looking at the slide now, and it seems the immune system is attacking his own cells just in this little bit that I got. It’s some sort of rejection not just a virus battle. Like an organ donation gone wrong.”

“Then it seems this is the virus we want and it has fully matured.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“I deliver your results to Doctor Holiday myself. He will decide how to approach Fire Fist. You can return to your projects. I won’t force you face them again now that Fire Fist is conscious and your plants won’t work.”

“Thank you, Doctor Briar. I’m eager to take the results of this battle and apply it to my newest creations.” 


	20. Through the Haze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sabo is saved and Jane goes crazy.

“They are predicting our route,” said Guinevere as the group ran. “They know that I am with you. They predicted where we were going due to Ace-kun’s condition. I fear they will be awaiting us at Talimore’s Tower.”

“Alternate routes?” asked Thatch.

“Chisera’s Tower is more than an hour away and on the outskirts of the main laboratory area not in the center of it like Talimore,” replied Guinevere.

“Commander, with all due respect, we’ve been going hard since arriving,” said Rory, who was now sporting a bag on his back that carried the medical supplies. “We still have to escape over the wall when this is over and with every hour that goes by the medicine becomes less effective.”

“No choice then,” said Thatch. “We’ll have to drive straight through.”

“Don’t do that. No one should be acting recklessly because of me,” said Ace from Teech’s back. “I should have mentioned that I was hit back on the Moby Dick.”

“Yes, you should have,” agreed Thatch, “but that doesn’t change the reality we’re in. Harping on what should have been done differently in the past doesn’t solve the situation in the present and is a waste of time. As the fourth division commander, I have to take responsibility for all my subordinates. For their safety and their screw ups. Letting you die is not an option. So rest up and conserve your strength. We’ll need you soon enough.”

“Yes, sir,” whispered Ace.

Thatch glanced over his shoulder. Ace had buried his face in Teech’s shirt, probably to hide his expression. Ace was still new to the crew and still working out that the people around him cared about him as if he were family, because that was what their crew was. One father and a whole slew of brothers, their captain’s precious sons.

“We’re getting through this, Ace, so hang in there.”

When they arrived at the building Guinevere identified as Talimore’s Tower, the single door at the base was open and no one seemed to be around. They entered and found the room empty and the staircase at the back. As they climbed, Thatch felt himself tensing. They really should have run into someone. Their opponent had escaped, they knew why they were there and they wanted Ace. Why wasn’t anyone here to ambush them as they had at the medic bay? Had they predicted that they knew they were being predicted and were actually waiting for them at the other tower? It would be nice if that was the case. 

The sound of battle above them obliterated that theory, but revealed the reason for the lack of ambush. Someone else had already sprung their trap. Was it the other intruders they had passed on the way to the medic bay? What lousy timing for those guys. Maybe Thatch and his team could sneak past the chaos and avoid the fight.

As they approached the landing, Guinevere slowed and lowered herself until she was eye level with the floor. Thatch came up alongside her doing the same. Gun fire was erupting from the ceiling and several other gunslingers were on the ground fighting with the very group Thatch and the others had passed on the way to the medic bay.

Three, a fishman and two women, were surrounded by the fist fighting gunslingers. Shots from the ceiling rained down on the desperate group. Thatch spotted the other gunslingers on the beams above, however, all of their attention was on the luckless group before them. 

Thatch squinted, where was the other one. He was certain there had been a young man in black that had cursed them soundly during their run by. Then he spotted him beyond the crowd. He was fighting with a female gunslinger who was remaining just out of his reach while firing on him. Thatch wondered at her bad aim, surely she could do better than that? Though it made things awkward for the man as he was having to high step to avoid the shots. Thatch suddenly wondered if she weren’t shooting that way on purpose. Her hysterical laughter supported that thought. Nasty bitch. Thatch scanned for a pathway around the fight. If he and the others didn’t move quick, they might avoid attracting attention.

He motioned for the others to follow him and he led them along the wall around the floor brawl, heading for the door on the far side. It seemed they might just get away with it as he kept an eye on the gunslingers on the beams. They were the only ones that could take the time to look around and spot them if Thatch and the others were unlucky.

Movement from above caught his eye and Thatch froze as he glanced up in time to see a man throw down a rope. A second later the gunslinger jumped off while holding the other end. Thatch wondered for the briefest of moments what was the man’s intent when shouting erupted from the fighters.

“SABO!”

“MILORD!"

The man in black was rising into the air as the other man swung down. His pipe fell to the floor as he struggled to grip the rope that was looped around his neck. Thatch felt his insides grow cold. He had sympathy for this group. Their friend was about to die before their eyes in a hideous fashion. Strangulation was an ugly death. However, he had his own people to worry about. They couldn’t afford to involve themselves in the affairs of strangers. So, though he was sympathetic to the group, he was still planning to walk away without lifting a finger to help them.

He glanced at Guinevere as he motioned for everyone to continue forward, unsure what she would do. She just might try to save the man. She did not seem the type that could ignore a stranger’s plight if she had no reason to despise him. His worries were rendered moot a second later when Teech let out a yell. Ace had thrown himself off of his comrade’s back and was charging the group. 

“What in blazes?!” hissed Thatch as he raced after him.

Ace stopped and threw both fists forward sending two streams of fire into the crowd. It poured into the group of gunslingers, filling the area and sending the men scrambling in all directions. The fishman knocked the two women to the floor to avoid the flames as they swept across the area then arced up into the ceiling to strike at the men on the beams.

The gunslingers shouted and jumped to the floor to escape the inferno, racing in every direction. The woman gunslinger howled and raced down the stairs that Thatch and the others had just vacated seconds earlier.

Ace stopped then staggered, looking confused, before shaking his head and stumbling toward the door. Thatch and the others raced to catch up. When he looked back the only ones remaining were the other group of intruders. The man in black was crouched on the floor gasping for air, the other three running up to him.

Thatch shook his head. He’d leave it be. He hadn’t known if Guinevere would attack and this was the best outcome for the situation. Besides Thatch hadn’t been happy with the idea of leaving the man to hang. Now he could walk away from this without even a trace of guilt.

Guinevere came up next to Ace when they reached the door and asked, “Ace-kun, is he actually someone you know?”

Tatch wondered why she thought Ace might know that man, but then remembered what Ace had babbled earlier when they first encountered the group.

_“You know what’s really funny, Rory? The guy in black looked a lot like someone I knew. Only this guy’s lots bigger and sort of ugly.”_

If the fever was starting to get the better of him again he might have thought it was a friend. Conversely, if the medicine was working, his clear head may have realized that the man was the person he thought he was earlier. Either way, if Ace thought his friend was in trouble, it was only natural he would leap in to save him.

Ace panted then looked back at the man in black, whose back was to him, then shook his head, “No, I made a mistake.” He pushed the door open and the four stepped out into the street beyond. Once outside Teech reached over and pulled Ace back onto his shoulders. Ace didn’t protest, instead he clung to the man’s shoulders, visibly shaken.

The former then, thought Thatch. He would have to ask Ace who he thought he was saving. From the way his face looked, it was as if he had seen a ghost.

*********

Sabo gasped for air, sucking in great lung fulls of the stuff, never did he think he would be so grateful just to breathe. The noose was still painfully tight around his neck but it was no longer cutting off his air flow. Hack was working the knot to get it off of him while Koala beat the lingering flames from his coat. It was ruined but he didn’t have room to complain. The fire had made the one holding his rope let go and had driven the rest of the gunslingers away.

“What… the hell…. happened?” gasped Sabo.

“It seems the stupid pirates were running by us again and the annoying one saved us,” replied Akatsuki. She stood facing the landing with a throwing knife in each hand, ready to hurl them at anyone who appeared there. They would have to get moving soon before the gunslingers returned to finish what they started.

“The annoying one, huh?” muttered Sabo, remembering the one pirate that had been carried. The one that had made that rude face when Sabo had shouted obscenities at them for leading the gunslingers to them. He looked around at the still smoldering surroundings. 

“If he was capable of doing this much why didn’t that human flamethrower do that before?” he wondered aloud, his voice raspy, as Hack finished undoing the knot and pulled the noose free of Sabo’s neck. Sabo rubbed his bruised throat. It was still hard to breath due to the swelling.

“He seemed to be ill, Milord,” replied Akatsuki, though he hadn’t really expected an answer. “His face was flush with fever when they ran by and earlier I heard the others complain that he had collapsed, causing them problems.”

Sabo stared at Akatsuki, even during a fight, no detail was too small for her not to notice. “Stupid pirates,” he murmured.

“Any idea why they decided to help us now?” asked Koala. She sat down in front of him with their first aid kit. She held up the cream to treat and reduce swelling and began applying it to his injured throat. 

“I’m afraid I don’t know,” said Akatsuki. “The annoying one seemed to be acting on his own.”

“Let’s just get out of here,” said Sabo. Something was tickling his mind. The face of the pirate that had taunted him seemed so familiar yet so alien. Like a memory from a dream. He shook his head and stood up. “We’re running out of time.”

**********

Jane hissed furiously. “How dare he! How dare he burn me!” she snarled, seething with anger. “I’ll make them sorry they crossed me! I’ll make them pay! I’ll get them all!”

“This is reportedly an extinct volcano but I bet your power could wake it up and kill everyone here.”

Jane raised her hands and let her power flow out and into the land around her. The ground rumbled and she laughed in lunatic delight at the destruction she was about to unleash.

“That’s right! You’ll burn! I’ll burn you all! Oh what a calamity!” she shrieked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STRIKE TWO! for Ace and Sabo reunion!


	21. Facing Typhoid Mary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the White Beard pirates battle Mary and things get worse.

The compound was more complicated than they had first assumed and Guinevere was out of her element. The buildings they had seen from a distance were actually just one building with several towers. Once inside they found themselves in a maze of white halls, observation rooms, medical labs, beaker labs and various other science study areas. One room would lead to four others that opened into different hallways. Men and women in white lab coats leapt out of their way and tried to flee.

Thatch and Rory caught as many of the scientists as they could and questioned them about Mary, but none could give them answers. None of them even knew she was supposed to be on the island, though some didn’t know her at all and others were shocked to learn she was supposed to be there. The later’s reaction a mixture of revulsion and horror. Thatch could sympathize with them even as he growled in frustration. Who wanted a walking epidemic working near them?

As they continued, they encountered fewer and fewer people, probably a result of warnings being radioed ahead of their coming and the scientists evacuating the building. More and more of the rooms they peered into were empty of people.

“She may already be gone from the building at this rate, Commander,” said Rory.

“I didn’t think the place would be this big,” commented Teech. “I thought once we reached the main area she would be easy to find.”

“My apologies,” said Guinevere. “it seems my use to you is at an end and we still have not found this woman yet.”

“We did better because you were with us than we would have without you,” said Thatch. “We would still be searching the slave quarters without realizing how far off the mark we were if you hadn’t guided us this far.”

“Still, if she has fled the building as suggested, then we may have to search the quarters as originally intended.”

“It was never are intention to search those areas, however, I don’t think she has fled. If that plant scientist’s words are true then she is probably here waiting for us in what will be her ideal battleground.” Thatch paused as he thought back to the words of the scientist at the slave’s medic bay.

“I knew she needed a person to incubate her viruses first or else it can’t be used, but why did she place such an important one in an outside body instead of using the ones we had available? And why not just do it again with our incubators instead of insisting on capturing this one?”

“Whatever it was she gave Ace she, for whatever reason, needs him specifically. I’m certain she will come to claim him herself now that all other attempts to capture him have failed. We’re conveniently bringing her precious incubator to her. She won’t flee from such an opportunity.”

“That could mean we’re heading right into another trap, Commander,” said Teech.

“Do you see any way to avoid it?” asked Thatch. When no one responded he continued, “We need to find her and she knows it. All she has to do is wait in her set trap. It would be foolish of her to move from it.”

“So what’s the plan once we find her?” asked Rory. “We don’t have the element of surprise and she’s waiting for us on ground that will favor her.”

“Rory, as our only doctor,” replied Thatch, “you’ll stay out of her spray range and out of the fight in general if there turns out to be more than just her waiting for us. You have to stay healthy for all our sakes.”

Rory growled but responded, “I understand.”

“Good thing you’re a gunman by trade,” said Teech. “You’ll still be able to help.”

“You are thinking that if you get Mary before her illnesses can take hold it won’t matter that she infects you?” asked Guinevere.

“I wish that were the case,” replied Thatch as he closed another door on an empty room. “Her illnesses are fast acting and able to drop a person within seconds of exposure. This is devil fruit power, not something natural.”

Guinevere was silent for a moment then muttered, “The twenty kings were truly horrid people to fashion such despicable things.”

Thatch wondered at her words but, before he could ask for an explanation, she stopped before a door with her hand outstretched, frozen. Thatch stopped the others then cast his senses into the room beyond. A person was present, alone and unafraid. Given that all the other rooms had been empty for a while this one’s presence stood out sharply.

“Get ready,” hissed Thatch.

Teech put Ace down and readied his knuckle blades. Ace wobbled and Rory reached out to steady him. Thatch felt his heart catch in his throat. Ace was with them because there was nothing else they could do with him in their situation, but he really should be hidden away somewhere to rest until all this was over. Medicine or not, Ace was not fit to fight.

Then Ace and Rory nearly pitched forward. Thatch was about to tell Rory to keep Ace near him when he felt his own body lurch. The ground was shaking. Dust fell loose from the ceiling and glass lamps rattled in their wall stands.

“Oi oi, what’s going on?” said Teech.

“I do not know,” replied Guinevere. “This has never happened before.”

“Let’s get this over with,” said Thatch suddenly having a bad feeling about the tremors. “Let’s go!” He kicked open the door with his cudgels raised. Teech followed then Guinevere and last were Ace and Rory.

Standing in the middle of the room was the woman that had attacked the Moby Dick. She smiled warmly at them.

“Welcome, crew of White Beard,” said Mary. “I’m so glad you could accept my invitation and even better you remembered to bring me my precious incubator. My, he seems to be ripe. We must harvest my virus soon less it begin to rot on the vine.”

Thatch bared his teeth at the way she was addressing Ace. Rory stuck his hand out to hold Ace back. Not that Ace was moving yet, still it was a good precaution. There was no telling when Ace would act on his own in the state he was in.

“Why Ace?” asked Thatch. She wasn’t attacking yet. He didn’t know what she had planned and he couldn’t rush her without understanding her motives. If he knew her motives he could guess how she would attack. Also if he could distract her by stoking her ego Rory might just be able to line up a shot. After all, Mary was a paramecia not a logia. Rory’s guns would be effective if he could land a hit.

“Why not?” Mary replied with a shrug.

“Did you attack the Moby Dick just to get Ace?”

“Heavens, no,” said Mary with a dismissive wave. Her hands were bare and beneath her long sleeves he saw bracelets with edges. The means to make herself bleed to better infect people with. She wasn’t bleeding yet but it would only take a second to get the blood flowing and, worse, she really just needed skin to skin contact to have the same effect.

Mary continued, “I saw your ship and thought it might be fun to try out some of my attack viruses I was crafting. They worked wonderfully, by the way. A complete success. I’ve already replicated them in our incubators here. I’ll be able to turn them over to the World Government for their use as a weapon soon, once Doctor Holiday has finished processing them.”

Thatch hissed at her words. Plague weapons? The idea horrified him. He wasn’t the only one bothered.

“You would wage war using diseases?!” gasped Guinevere.

“The World Government will use any weapon at their disposal to gain the upper hand. This isn’t exactly news. Only the foolish commoners think the World Government is a force of justice and light. What gets me rolling are the Marines who actually buy into that nonsense. Seriously, have they never stopped to wonder about what it is they are protecting when their superiors order them to kill the civilians just so they can get that one pirate that’s hiding behind them? They do it without question because it is all for the sake of justice. They’ll do anything if they believe it will lead to long-term peace. Too bad for them, it never does.”

Guinevere looked as if she was going to charge the woman and Mary placed one hand by the other’s bracelet, ready to cut herself. Thatch hastily put a hand out to stop Guinevere from attacking. Guinevere had no weapons and this wasn’t her battle. Her revenge lay elsewhere, she shouldn’t be getting hurt fighting their fight.

“Then why are you so fixated on Ace if he wasn’t even your initial target?” asked Thatch. The ground beneath them shivered again and more dust floated down from the ceiling. He felt like he was wasting time, but he had to understand, so that he could tell White Beard what happened. 

“The virus he carries is special. It won’t be a weapon itself but will be used to craft a weapon and I thought adding a little fire as a component of this new weapon was a great idea. In other words, I saw his ability while fighting all of you on your ship and thought Doctor Holiday might like it for his project, that’s all.”

Thatch was floored. The entire attack on the Moby Dick had been done on impulse. There had been no plan, there had been no reason. She had just done it because they were there. The White Beard’s, the most powerful and influential pirate fleet in the New World was in danger of being wiped out because of one woman’s impulsive decision making. He would have laughed at the absurdity of it all if it wasn’t so terrifying.

“And here I thought you were some brilliant mastermind but you’re just an impulsive woman with a dangerous ability,” said Thatch.

“Indeed,” said Mary her face shifting to malicious glee. She struck her hands against her wrists and charged forward. Thatch dodged to the side, Teech jumped back and Guinevere leapt forward. Rory started firing but Mary leapt to the side and swung her bleeding hands around in an arc, crimson streams flew toward Guinevere. The nimble woman back flipped over the spray, landing on her feet and raced forward again.

Teech stabbed at the woman having charged while Mary was focused on Guinevere, but the woman leapt over his outstretched fist and lightly landed on it with her flat bare palm. Teech collapsed a second later, his muscles spasming.

“Teech!” shouted Thatch.

“Wretched creature!” shouted Guinevere, lunging forward.

Mary smiled and whipped another bloody arc at the charging woman. This time it struck Guinevere full in the face. Guinevere cried out and fell to the floor, blinded by the spray in her eyes.

Rory was still shooting but Mary was continuing to dodge. Then it happened. Rory’s guns ran out of ammo. He looked down at his weapons in horror when the hammer clicked without a follow-up pop. Mary smirked then turned her attention to Thatch.

Streams of fire shot from Ace but missed Mary by several feet. Ace shook his head then stepped forward.

“Ace! Stay back!” shouted Thatch.

“I take it you’re seeing double or else that would have been more accurate,” said Mary with another laugh. “I highly doubt you’re actually that terrible a shot.”

“She won’t attack me,” said Ace. “She won’t risk contaminating her precious incubator with another virus.”

“How astute, Fire Fist,” said Mary, losing her smile for a moment. Then it returned with a trace of mockery in it. “However, I doubt you are any threat to me seeing as you are struggling to just stand.”

Cracks were appearing in the ceiling above and the ground’s shivering was becoming a stance throwing shudder. Now Mary seemed to notice what was happening to the building.

“Is this Jane’s doing? That crazy bitch!” snapped Mary.

In her moment of distraction, Ace staggered forward, trying to get close enough so that his double vision wouldn’t affect his aim as much. Mary saw and leapt backward. The shifting ground caused her to stagger into the wall and Ace launched a double fist of flame at her. She dodged to the side and the flames ignited the walls and raced up to the ceiling.

Thatch wondered at the speed then smelled smoke coming from behind him. The lamps in the hallway had broken free of their fixtures, their oil was spilling all over and some of the wicks had remained lit despite the breeze created by the fall. The wall that Ace hit must have already been ablaze on the other side.

Ace staggered again as he gave pursuit to Mary. Thatch withdrew to see to the others. Rory was looking after Teech so Thatch searched for Guinevere. The woman was not where she had fallen. He looked around for her then noticed the ceiling was beginning to sag over where Ace was trying to reach Mary.

“Ace! Retreat!” cried Thatch. “Ace!”

Ace wouldn’t or couldn’t hear him as he focused on his target. The ceiling cracked then came down in a shower of timbers, stone and tile. Mary screamed as the debris fell upon her. Ace, however, was knocked to safety by Guinevere, who appeared out of nowhere to throw herself on Ace and drive him away from the destruction. Somehow she had remained mobile despite the infection.

Guinevere and Ace landed several feet away from the crashed ceiling. She looked over her shoulder at the mess. Her eyes startled Thatch, their vivid green stood out now that the skin was darkened with blood. They seemed to glow in the firelight and appeared reptilian. She blinked and looked at Thatch, appearing normal, albeit, still splashed with blood. Thatch wondered if his eyes had been playing tricks on him.

“She is dead, I sensed her life expire just now,” Guinevere reported. She stood up and helped Ace regain his feet. He wobbled, mostly from his own lack of balance, but remained standing. The ground was shuddering again and Thatch wondered what Mary had meant when she had spoken before about someone named Jane.

“Teech?” called Thatch.

“I’m all right now,” Teech said, sitting up.

“Looks like if it doesn’t have time to take, the symptoms disappear,” said Rory.

“Ace?” Thatch turned to regard his young shipmate. Ace smiled weakly at Thatch and then a shadow leapt out of a doorway striking Ace in the back.

Ace yelled, his back arcing from the impact. The shadow was a man in a white lab coat. He then drew back and laughed.

“Thanks for this, Fire Fist,” said the man. “You and Mary have given me a wondrous prize.” He held up his hand and Thatch spied a large syringe nearly full with blood, Ace’s blood. Guinevere caught Ace as fell forward and held his shuddering body while glaring at the newcomer.

“Holiday?!” hissed Thatch, certain this was the man Mary and the plant scientist had been talking about.

“Indeed,” he said with a smirk. “But instead of coming after me, if you truly value your miserable lives, you should instead be fleeing. Calamity Jane has unleashed her power on the island and this old volcano is waking back up. So it would be best to not linger here much longer.”

With that, the man disappeared and the door he had appeared through vanished beneath an avalanche of burning debris. Guinevere leaned Ace back to look at him. The young man leaned against her chest, unmoving. His eyes rolled open but he didn’t seem to be looking at anything. His breathing was shallow.

“This virus has been in him for far too long, the effects will not fade as swiftly as it did with Teech-san, I fear,” she said.

“I just need a second,” said Teech still sitting on the floor as he worked through the various muscles, checking their responses.

“I don’t think we have a second,” said Rory as he looked around at the burning room.

“I think that second passed us some time ago,” said Thatch as he too sought an exit, but all he saw were burning debris and walls. The doors were lost.

********

“Everyone head for the docks,” shouted Crockett as the ground gave another violent shake. Ash was pouring into the sky from the lowest reaches of the quarry and he could hear the crystals popping as they exploded when exposed to the rising lava.

“Damn, Jane!” snapped Reid as he and his men ran up the tower stairs that led to the port.

“I never thought she would actually go and do it!” said Bill.

Lava was pouring out of cracks and fissures in the quarry. Buildings in the slave quarters, made cheaply with little regard to safety, had already begun toppling over just from the small earthquakes that had signaled the volcano’s reawakening.

Crockett was on his den den mushi shouting, “Evacuate all personal at once onto every ship and boat in port and launch them as soon as they are full! There is no time to worry about equipment! Get everyone out now!”


	22. Dragon's Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sabo and friends seek information and find more than they were expecting.

Sabo and his companions raced through the deserted halls. Doors were open, some hanging by single hinge, others with dents in their panels from being kicked. The pirates had entered ahead of them. A few luckless scientists had been fleeing and run straight into Sabo’s party.

Upon seeing the revolutionaries they had thrown up their hands and shrieked, “We know nothing about Mary!” They then fled back the way they had come, disappearing down a different hall before Sabo could question what they meant.

“It looks like the pirates are seeking a person named Mary,” said Hack.

“I wonder who that is,” said Koala. “She wasn’t mentioned in the part of the report we received.”

“That name sounds familiar, though,” said Hack. “She may be a scientist for the World Government but not originally stationed here.”

“Great, however, that still doesn’t make things any easier for us since the pirates scared the whole building away,” snapped Sabo. How were they supposed to find Doc Holiday or Timothy if the scientists were abandoning the building? They needed people to question about their location.

“Sabo, wait!” cried Koala. She dashed into a room filled with filing cabinets. Papers were scattered across the floor, probably the result of frightened assistants fleeing the room.

Koala began rummaging through files. “I know you want to confirm what happened to Timothy, but don’t you think we would serve him better by figuring out what he was trying to send us? If we spend all our time trying to track him down only to find a corpse at the end of the path we’ll have accomplished nothing.”

Sabo crossed his arms as he thought. Koala’s reasons were sound. Guilt at pushing his friends this far when their situation was treacherous plagued his thoughts. Then there was his own brush with death. If he thought about it logically, the pirates had given him openings he was able to take advantage of. The gunslingers had been targeting their group initially but got side tracked by the pirates’ antics. They wouldn’t have made it this far without their interference. They probably couldn’t have rescued the slaves without the distraction. Truth be told, he should have called it the moment he realized the security here was on to them, but he had pushed it because of his own nagging instincts.

He took a deep breath and tried to let those same instincts speak to him again. However, the nagging voice within remained silent. Probably a sign that he was where he needed to be.

“Akatsuki, stand guard,” said Sabo.

“Yes, Milord,” responded the small kunoichi and she disappeared. Probably positioning herself in a place where she could better keep track of the entrances and exits. Sabo and Hack joined Koala in looking through the files. 

Many of the files appeared old. Some looked like they hadn’t been updated or even touched in years. Not the most hopeful of signs. Timothy had to have been examining something new not something years old. Sabo scanned through the files in case newer items were hidden among the older ones. He didn’t know the scientists’ filing system. If it was alphabetical order, then recent projects would be side by side with older ones.

Sabo skimmed through a drawer that was full of profiles of couples, Marine couples. Curiosity getting the better of him, the files belonged to a single project that didn’t appear to have been updated in years, he began to examine the files more closely. Pictures of these Marine couples were tagged next to lengthy reports that described their attributes and accomplishments. What disturbed Sabo, as he gleaned the reports, was that every woman in these files had the word “DECEASED” stamped over her picture. He scanned the follow up report wondering what had happened to them. This was an experimental lab and he found himself dreading the next pages, certain that human experimentation was to blame. The next page contained documentation on a procedure followed with medical files describing the woman’s pregnancy, which had been monitored in great and exacting detail, then ended abruptly with the blood red stamp of “FAIL” over the progress chart.

He checked every file and every file was the same with every woman undergoing a strange medical treatment followed by a monitored pregnancy that apparently ended in the death of mother and child. The word “FAIL” seemed so ominous to Sabo. The scientists involved seemed to only care about the procedure and the woman and baby’s death were of little concern on their own. Too much medical jargon was used for Sabo to make heads or tails of the procedure done to these women, only that it was the same exact process.

However, he knew some of the names and faces in the charts. Every man he recognized was someone in the Revolutionary Army. He knew many revolutionaries were disillusioned Marines so discovering they had been Marines didn’t shock him. It was the fact they had been caught up in an experiment of this nature. Sabo wondered if this was what had turned them on the World Government. It wouldn’t have surprised him.

Still trying to find some explanation he could understand to the project that had claimed so many lives he continued to search each file, hoping for clarification. He reached the last of the files in the drawer and scanned through it. He froze as the names of the couple caught his eye. Again he recognized the man but this time he wished he hadn’t. The man’s name was “Monkey D. Dragon”. Sabo’s hands shook and he almost shoved the file back into the drawer, but he couldn’t unsee it. He couldn’t pretend that he didn’t now know that Dragon, their leader, had been a part of this well recorded tragedy. Sabo could well be staring at the reason Dragon formed the Revolutionary Army in the first place. Or had this simply been the final straw that told him there was no saving the World Government from within? Dragon had powerful ideals. He may have always had them and he may have tried to work his changes from within until he realized how powerless he really was and shifted tactics.

Sabo steeled himself. It would not do to speculate with only some knowledge so he returned his attention to the file. Again the woman was marked as “DECEASED”. Sabo felt his heart contract painfully as he stared at the picture of Dragon’s late wife. Her profile named her a sword master of rare talent who defeated numerous big names and clashed with and survived several others. How tragic for it to end like this, to die a victim of a human experiment. He wondered what these two, what all of them actually, had been told about the experiment before they submitted to the procedures. Had they known the full truth or were they deceived?

He flipped through the pages and found that the chart didn’t have the same “FAIL” stamp on it. Instead a set of words appeared beneath it: 

_“Unexpected triplets, 2 fail, 1 live.”_

Sabo stared in shock and his breath caught. “One live.” Dragon had a child that had survived when all the others hadn’t. Sabo flipped to the final page wondering if he would get answers as to what the experiment was. If Dragon had known what he had been subjecting his wife to. 

But the final page read simply as such:

_“Due to incompetence by the medical staff, project objectives were disclosed to non-clearance member of the experiment. Resulting in the death of the core researchers to the project, threat of critical information release to general public and loss of live sample._

_Live sample reported to have been recovered by non-clearance Marine. Resulting in live sample not being returned to research facility for further study. Location of live sample unknown, unable to retrieve._

_Project Imperial Rose suspended indefinitely.”_

Sabo felt sick. Beneath these cold words was a picture of a baby boy no bigger than the hand of the doctor who was holding it before the camera. Live sample?! he thought in disgust. That’s a baby! That’s Dragon’s son! Sabo was glad to read that the child had escaped and that the hideous project had been suspended. There were no further files so it seemed it remained suspended. Sabo closed the drawer and took a deep breath. If the small summary was true, then it was likely that that “non-clearance member” was Dragon. He had been a member of the experiment but was not given the full, if any, details of the project. Dragon must have killed those involved and rescued his son before they could turn the helpless newborn into parts. Sabo was certain the scientists would have wanted to use the sole survivor of their experiment for tests and possibly dissect the boy to figure out what they had done right with him. All to better their chances of success in the next round. 

Sabo took another deep breath to stabilize his nerves. Dragon had a son. The son wasn’t with Dragon because the file spoke of him being retrieved, but he had been taken somewhere where the scientists couldn’t find him. The “non-clearance Marine” had to be someone that wasn’t even involved in the experiment. Someone who had taken the child and hidden him away from the eyes of the world. Good for that person, thought Sabo. He wondered if he should say something to Dragon when he saw him again but what could he say? It seemed wrong that he even knew about it. Undecided but calmer, he moved on to the next file drawer. He could mull it over on Tirus once they completed their mission on OK Ori Island.

“How are you guys doing over there?” he called, hoping for a distraction from his spinning thoughts as he braced himself for the next possible disturbing revelation.

“I think we found an archive not something with active projects in it,” said Hack. “These files talk about gigantification which I know is something they dreamed about but dismissed as impossible several years ago. And you?”

“Yeah these files haven’t been touched in years,” replied Sabo is a vague manner. “The last date on this one set is from fifteen years ago.”

“I think I found the recent stuff,” said Koala, holding up a much newer looking file.

“What’s it talking about, Koala,” said Sabo, glad to abandon the cabinet that contained Dragon’s secret.

“It seems to be discussing the possibility of merging robotic technology with the human body. The research is being headed by Vegapunk who isn’t associated with this island.”

“That sounds like it a project where they would be turning a person into a weapon,” said Hack.

“We’ve seen some of that already, though,” said Sabo. “That one former admiral had his whole arm replaced with a mechanical one.”

“This seems to be talking about turning an entire person into a robot like being with no independent will,” said Koala. “It also mentions making robot copies that are tied to the original.”

“That might have been what the slaves were telling us about earlier. That offsite weapon the mines were supplying,” said Sabo. “We should take the file with us.” Koala nodded and tucked it into the bag she was carrying with her. Sabo thought that might be it, but the nagging was back in force.

Before he could address it, a voice spoke up from across the room, “It seems you have found something of great interest.”

The three spun to face the speaker. Sabo stared in surprise. The man looked exactly like a rabbit, his long ears twitched as he stared back. A smile on his face. “I say it is of great interest but in reality it is only one of many projects that World Government develops at any given time. As you saw, that particular one is being carried out on another island. This island just happens to have the fuel for their precious products. Considering their potential destructive power, though, it is not a wonder that they have them being tested elsewhere. It would be rather tragic if an accident were to occur here.”

“Who are you?” demanded Sabo.

The rabbit shook a finger at Sabo. “All in due time, my boy. I did find it fascinating to watch your face as you explored that one file. Would I be wrong to assume all the men involved are now a part of the Revolutionary Army?”

Sabo couldn’t suppress his surprise at the man’s question, which is seemed more like a statement than an actual probe for information. How long had he been standing there? How had they not noticed him? He wasn’t even standing near any of the doors. Then Sabo hissed. A secret entrance. They had been careless. The rabbit grinned as he read Sabo’s expressions.

“It didn’t take you very long to figure that out,” said the rabbit with a chuckle. “I am curious. Now that you are privy to that information, can you answer a little question for me? I do long to know where the live one disappeared to.”

“Even if I knew where that child was I wouldn’t tell you. Were you the one in charge of that heinous project?”

“I’m in charge of many projects. Vegapunk specializes in inorganic based projects and Holiday specializes in the organic based ones.”

That wasn’t an answer. Sabo bared his teeth in disgust. “You wretch! How many lives do you have to wreck before you’re satisfied? What were you trying to accomplish with that insanity?”

The rabbit smirked and replied, “Well, if one is being honest, I wasn’t in charge of that particular project. Rocklin was.” His smile disappeared and his tone switched to disgust as he continued, “That incompetent fool was far more confident than his abilities merited. To run such a project without any tests or trials to prefect the techniques and procedures before applying it and to keep going after the first set failures without changing anything… Honestly, if he hadn’t been caught and disposed of I wonder how much longer he would have been allowed to carry on with his failures before he was shut down by the higher authorities.”

“Then why are you so interested in that child?” snarled Sabo.

“Because I, too, am curious what went right especially since he changed nothing.” The rabbit paused and tilted his head. “Any guesses at what the difference was?”

Sabo’s mind called unbidden the words, “Unexpected triplets.” He stamped down the thought but the rabbit smirked again and said, “Something came to mind. Care to share?”

Sabo glared, if that rabbit had read the blasted files then he had to have had the same thought already. Sabo decided to abandon the topic before he said something unnecessary. “What exactly are you doing on this island? What experiments are you in charge of?”

The rabbit’s smile grew bigger. “Such an inquisitive mind. I oversee Holiday’s super soldier based projects. Regeneration, resurrection, transmutation.” 

Regeneration, resurrection, transmutation? thought Sabo, his mind reeling. 

_Some are attempts to cheat death…_

Resurrection! Sabo gasped then cried, “You are attempting to revive the dead?”

“We are, though, still haven’t perfected the device yet. Care to see some of the incomplete products?” The rabbit stepped aside and revealed the hidden door he had used to enter the room undetected. Several shambling figures appeared and the stench of rotting meat wafted through the air.

The ground shivered beneath his feet as the figures emerged into the light of the room and he froze. They were people but they were in various states of decay. Some were further along than others and he wondered how they could even move when so much of their skeleton was exposed.

“You could surrender now,” said the rabbit uncaring. “I did want to take you alive…” The ground shook again and Sabo realized it was doing that independent of the rabbit and his decaying subordinates. “…but Jane seems to have lost control over her emotions.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The One Piece series that I write are unassociated with one another. Storm Warning, Fire Prince and Dark Sea Chronicles are separate universes and have nothing to do with another beyond they share the same source material.
> 
> However, I do tend to reuse characters and events in fleshing out these series, so long as they don't argue with the main storyline. This is so I don't have to keep "reinventing the wheel" so to speak.
> 
> Ex: Project Imperial Rose. That will have little to no significance in Storm Warning. It, however, is a major event with far reaching influence in Dark Sea Chronicles. While having never happened in Fire Prince, story telling for that series required something else to happen that had the same result in Dragon leaving the Marines.  
>  Meredith. It's a short story that will debut in the Fire Prince series. It will be referenced in Storm Warning but it is a minor event in that series.  
>  Desoro and Captain Flint. Major event and character in the Fire Prince series but will be only a point of history briefly touched on in Dark Sea Chronicles.  
>  The Dancing Bear Tavern. That is my "how Ace met Sabo story" and all three series, if there is a need, will refer to it but again Flint is a major character of Fire Prince only.  
>  The Goldenrei Family. Major players in Fire Prince. Somewhat important in Dark Sea Chronicles and will make an appearance in Storm Warning.  
>  Hero of Altear. This is my Head Cannon for Dragon, he was a Marine Admiral who was referred to as the Hero of Altear. However, the story is discussed in detail in the Dark Sea Chronicles and is only background for the other two series.
> 
> So don't get confused when reading the different series. They are their own universe and so they will only agree on history when convenient or its cannon.


	23. The Terror of the Living Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sabo discovers the fate of their missing agent.

The room shook and puffs of dust began to fall from the ceiling. “What is happening?”

“Jane is awakening the volcano,” said the rabbit. “Since I can’t afford to let you leave the island, and I no longer have the luxury of time to capture you, you’ll have to die here. Which is quite the waste, there were so many projects that I wanted to use you in. And you do seem to be such a fine specimen, too, so it is especially tragic.”

Sabo shuddered then shifted his attention back to the shambling zombies. “Looks like your calculations are little off.”

“They are, sadly. It seems Holiday has figured out how to reanimate the bodies but soul recall is another story. He hasn’t been able to figure out the problem yet despite the hundreds of tests we’ve done to identify it. Most frustrating of all is that they begin to decay as soon as they exit the revival chamber. They’re more like a possessed corpse now. They have no independent will, possessing only enough awareness to obey whatever orders I give.”

Sabo stepped back in horror, then from the shadows behind him a kunai flew through the air. The rabbit reached up and caught it before the weapon could imbed itself in his forehead. Sabo and the other two took an involuntary step back. The movement had been so swift that none had been able to follow his hand coming from his pocket to catch the blade an inch from his face.

“Nice instincts from the little ninja. If these people are the walking dead then precision attacks won’t work on them. I’ve given them the order to delay you. Once the island goes up, everything you know about these various projects will be lost.”

Sabo looked between the rabbit and the zombies. “You think we can’t out run these things?”

“Oh that’s the thing,” replied the rabbit, “you can’t. They have devolved to their most basic instincts. The moment you start running their predatory instincts will be activated and they will chase you. They don’t get tired, they don’t feel pain, and they don’t fear death. Fighting them will only anger them. Running will egg them on. Oh, and their bite… It isn’t the cliché scenario where you will become infected with the zombie virus nonsense, but the dead do have a host of infectious bacteria that the living don’t possess. I imagine blood poisoning would not be a fun thing to try to fend off while fighting for your lives.”

The ground shook with more vigor than before and the cabinets rocked and began moving across the floor during the rolling that froze both revolutionaries and zombies. Time was running out for all of them. Sabo knew they needed to leave, past time in fact. If they just stayed ahead of the zombies they could escape, that was all they needed to do. This man was depending on the zombies and the coming disaster to finish them off in his place. It was an opening they could exploit.

The rabbit smirked as if reading their minds then snapped his wrist. The kunai flew at Sabo’s leg and the young man just managed to block it at the last moment with his pipe. This rabbit was no mere scientist.

Sabo looked up then blinked in surprise. The rabbit was gone, only a distant cawing could be heard coming from the secret passage. He glanced back at the zombies that were still shambling toward them. Since they had only back stepped at a slow pace the zombies’ chase instincts hadn’t been triggered. But they were getting closer. If they were going to run they needed to do so now while they still had a sizable gap between them.

“Sabo,” hissed a voice from behind the zombies. 

Sabo paused then side stepped to try to see who was speaking. Behind the zombies stood a man who was in far better condition, though, his face was shallow and pale and the hole in his chest continued to ooze puss. Sabo hissed when he recognized the man. 

“Timothy!” gasped Sabo

“What?!” cried Koala.

“Timothy,” whispered Hack his eyes growing sad.

Sabo could only stare in horror. It was their worst fears confirmed. He had been used in an experiment and the worst kind of all. He had been forced to revive after being killed and if the others and his own body were any indication it was not a second chance at life but a slow lingering second death.

“Timothy,” whispered Sabo, his vision clouding over.

“Sabo, so it is you,” said Timothy in his low hissing voice. “I’m glad you came while I still had a mind to think with. How much of my report made it through?”

Sabo swallowed his bile, the rabbit had misjudged. He had thought all these poor souls were mindless. Timothy was in possession of his wits and could pass on the information he had failed to transmit days earlier.

“Not enough. It was enough to use to infiltrate the facility, but we don’t know what you were trying to warn us about,” said Sabo. He would make no assumptions that they had the information now. He and the others continued to retreat slowly but they were quickly running out of floor space.

“I feared that was the case,” said Timothy as he shuffled along behind the others. “That man that was just here is the true mastermind for all that he is laying it at the feet of Holiday. Holiday is merely his underling. His name is Briar. He has no authority over Vegapunk’s work, the only projects he monitors are the ones that come out of this building. Holiday is his front that he hides behind so that assassins can never strike at him. As long as that man breathes experiments like this will continue.”

Sabo cursed but there wasn’t anything he could do now. “Was that what you were trying to warn us about in your report?”

“No, that was information I discovered after I was captured and turned into this. The experiment they are working on could mean the end of the revolutionary army if it succeeds. He and Holiday are trying to perfect a super soldier serum.”

“He mentioned that earlier, what is it?” asked Koala.

“It will be a serum that will turn underachieving Marines into a force comparable to Vice Admiral Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Perhaps even greater.”

Sabo and the others felt their inside grow cold. Men like Garp and Sengoku were rare talents. If any Marine could become like them in little to no time… The revolutionaries wouldn’t stand a chance. No one would.

“How far are they along?” asked Sabo. The ground heaved again and he heard Koala gasp. He glanced back, she had just hit the wall. He needed to work faster to gather Timothy’s information before they were pressed against the wall and forced to flee out the door. 

“They brought the woman with the Plague Plague fruit, Typhoid Mary they call her, in to create a transmutation virus among other things. The virus will be the first step to creating this serum. She only arrived yesterday.”

“Mary?” Sabo recalled the scientists declaring they didn’t know where Mary was as if they had thought they were looking for her. The pirates were but why? It didn’t matter. This was not the time to ponder unrelated things. “Did she create the virus yet?”

“Holiday was discussing it with another scientist while I was still in the chamber. I don’t believe they realized I was conscious yet but I heard every word. One of the pirates seems to be a carrier for the virus. They are trying to capture him so they could harvest it,” replied Timothy.

Sabo felt his heel click against the wall. Smoke floated into the room through one of the other doors, the crackling of fire could be heard from beyond. The ground heaved again and the zombies were knocked back a stride while Sabo, Hack and Koala held fast to the wall and maintained their places. Akatsuki stood in the door, having abandoned whatever perch she had been hiding in, her expression of growing concern. Black smoke could be seen billowing past the open space.

“One of the pirates?” Sabo’s mind flashed to the young man who made the taunting face. The fire user who had driven Jane away when Sabo was being strangled to death. Something twinged within him but he pushed the feeling aside. Not the time!

“Milord!” cried Akatsuki, as she backed away from the door. Flames were now in the hall and entering the room through two of the other doors. Only Briar’s secret passage was still clear of flames and smoke.

“You have everything I needed to tell you,” said Timothy. “Now go!”

“Timothy!” cried Sabo.

“Thank you, but you can’t save me,” said Timothy a tear sliding down his cheek. “I’ll free these poor souls myself but you need to escape. Their reactions are delayed. If you dodge around them they won’t respond in time to catch you.”

Sabo gritted his teeth. “I’m sorry,” he hissed then he and the others dove around the zombies, heading for the secret passage beyond. Just as Timothy promised the zombies couldn’t react fast enough to the sudden change in direction. Timothy launched forward and shoved the six decaying forms forward through the burning door. He kicked and shoved each one into the raging inferno that had been the hallway. They ignited almost instantly, their decaying flesh unable to resist the flames. Timothy gave Sabo one last smile before his body was engulfed as well. He continued to hold the door as the other six tried to force themselves past to give chase even as they burned.

Sabo hurried down the hall appalled by everything he had seen and heard since arriving here. He had known the World Government was depraved, he just hadn’t believed anyone could be this twisted.

The passage took them to another room and they raced through it. They had to get back to their boat. They arrived in another hall, one that wasn’t in flames yet, and tried to get their bearing. With no way to tell direction, Sabo picked one and they bolted down it. They needed to get back outside. A window would do but each room was solid wall.

They approached an intersection and Sabo hissed as he found himself facing another decision of guessing the correct direction, knowing he could make things worse if he chose wrong. Then a man in a white lab coat raced by.

Figuring the local would know the way out, Sabo tore after him. It was only when the man looked back to see who was following that Sabo recognize him. The man was a match for the profile they had at headquarters. Doc Holiday.

“Holiday!” shouted Sabo. He then noticed in the man’s right hand was a large syringe filled with a thick red liquid, possibly blood.

Timothy’s words about Holiday and Briar’s need to harvest viruses from one of the pirates, popped into his mind. Had he just come from where the pirates were? Was that the transmutation virus those two needed to make the super soldier serum?

“Akatsuki, his hand!” shouted Sabo. “Destroy that syringe!”

“Yes, Milord.”

Holiday gasped, his eyes wide in alarm at Sabo’s order. He pulled his precious cargo in front of his body, confirming in Sabo’s mind its importance. Fine, thought Sabo, I can have Akatsuki take him down first. Even if Briar is the mastermind, this man is still leading the research in these hideous experiments. It should be a major setback for the World Government to lose him.

Holiday was nimble for an middle-aged man. He dodged Akatsuki’s kunai with only minimal trouble. What were with all these scientists that possessed combat skills? Weren’t just supposed to mess around over beakers all day like reclusive hermits? 

“You can continue to chase me and possibly take me down,” Holiday gasped. He wasn’t in as great a shape as his earlier athleticism suggested. “But I’m heading for the main dock, where exactly is your ship located?”

Sabo hissed then said, “You need to escape this building as badly as we do so you can’t afford to doddle trying to trap us here until the volcano erupts. If we take you down before we escape the building then I won’t have to make that choice.”

“Then how about a more pressing one? Those pirates are probably trapped back that way. Fire Fist could have blown through the collapsing walls to help his crewmates escape this place, but last I saw him he was succumbing to Mary’s virus and was too weak even to remain conscious. None of them will survive despite successfully striking down Mary. How sad for White Beard.”

Sabo almost yelled, “Who cares about some random pirates?” but his mind flashed again on the young man. The playful taunt as Sabo had been screaming obscenities at them. The fire that had burned through the rope strangling him and driven the gunslingers away. The face floated before his eyes, black wavy hair and freckles beneath black eyes. Sabo’s heart beat painfully and something just beyond his reach, a memory of an image that would not focus. An indistinct voice from over a great distance called to him, though, he could not understand a single word. With every step he took running after Holiday made the pain in his chest grow more intense. With a yell of frustration, he turned around and raced back up the hall in the direction Holiday had come from.

“Sabo! What are you doing?” shouted Hack.

“Keep going! I need to even the scales or I won’t sleep tonight,” shouted Sabo., Akatsuki right behind him. He wished Akatsuki had kept up the pursuit, but he knew her first and last priority was his safety. She would not pursue a target and leave him vulnerable.

The pain in his chest vanished when he turned to save the pirates and he felt relief and joy even as he felt confusion and frustration in his decision.

“Why does it matter this much to me?” he hissed.

“Honor,” replied Akatsuki as if she understood everything. Perhaps she did.


	24. Within Arm's Reach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sabo rescues the White Beard pirates.

Scientists rushed by with their arms filled with their most precious notes and reports in an effort to save as much of their work as possible. The sirens of the evacuation were punctuated by the shaking and rumbling of the ground. The lower areas were already filling with lava and lava bombs were flying through the sky, striking buildings and starting fires wherever they landed. A few luckless souls had been struck directly by the burning balls of miasma.

Ringo raced up the halls in the opposite direction of the evacuating lab workers. He had all his materials, but there was something that absolutely had to be pulled from this island. He had lied when he had told the White Beard crew he didn’t know what Holiday was doing. He had lied about it being Holiday. He had known the reason they wanted Fire Fist. It was because he knew that he knew he had to retrieve those items without fail.

He arrived at a vault door that was sealed with five locks. He undid each one, a time consuming task that he cursed in the present emergency. With the final lock undone he pulled open the heavy door.

Inside the vault were many items of study and curiosity. Abnormalities of nature, both human and animal, ancient artifacts of unknown technology and remnants of plants that no longer existed. But only two items held Ringo’s interest. One was a ordinary looking wood chalice and the other was a stone of swirling midnight hue with lapis gem stones embedded in it. The botanist pushed up his glasses before grabbing these two items and fleeing.

******

Thatch and the others choked on the smoke as bits of ceiling continued to fall all around them. Guinevere had kicked the walls several times to try to force a path, however, most of these exits collapsed within seconds. The building had become too unstable for such reckless action to continue, but the doors had been buried behind burning debris and were indistinguishable from the other sections of wall that had already collapsed. Only twice did the wall hold until they could slip through, but they still had no idea where they were supposed to go.

Thatch looked back at Ace whom Teech was carrying. The young man was down and not getting back up. Ace’s over the top devil fruit power could have blasted the building away, allowing them a clear exit. With everything falling apart, there was no longer a need to act with care. Everyone was fleeing for their lives and wouldn’t waste their time trying to apprehend a pack of pirates. But Ace was unconscious. 

After Holiday’s attack, Ace hadn’t been able to stand again. His fever was on the rise once more and his body shook with seizures. His condition was growing worse and Rory had only looked helpless as he tried to examine the ailing young man.

Rory done his check as quickly as possible but the lost seconds had cost them. Their escape route had vanished completely and now they were trapped in a burning building on an island that was about to explode. Thatch couldn’t believe how bad things had gotten.

A wall blasted in suddenly without warning. Rory, Guinevere, and Thatch immediately went on guard. Maybe some people were willing to risk their lives to catch them.

In the circle of the opening stood a man in a long black coat and black top hat. His hand was out stretched in a fist. Thatch froze in shock, it was the man from earlier, the one they had seen in the slave quarters and the one that Ace had saved in the tower.  
“Come on!” the man in black shouted. “The exit’s this way.”

Thatch grunted and rushed toward him with the others hot on his heels. Thatch may not understand why this man was helping, but he wasn’t about to question it. Maybe he was one of those bizarre hero types that just had to save everyone during a disaster.  
Thatch noticed the woman in black running alongside the man, they had both come back for them. He wondered about his other two companions from the tower but shook his head. There was no point in worrying about anyone else now.

They ran up the hall then took a sharp right into another passage. When they reached the end of it, the man stopped and tapped the wall as if searching for something. When he was satisfied, he punched the wall and it blew out in the same way the first one had. Beyond the wall was the outside area.

“Quickly!” The man leapt through the opening and the others followed. They ran across open, empty streets. The landscape was so different from just an hour ago. Fires raged everywhere and smoke billowed into the sky. Magma balls fell all around them but the man seemed to know the safest route. 

He must be using observational haki to dodge the falling debris, thought Thatch as they hurried.

*********

Holiday ran along the path to the harbor with the other evacuees. He glanced at the destruction beyond and paused. On a building being surrounded by lava was Jane. She laughed at the destruction all around her, heedless of the danger approaching.

“Jane!” shouted Holiday. “Jane! Get out of there!”

She looked over toward him, her expression like that of a confused child.

Before he could say anything else, the building tilted as lava devoured its base then plunged into the pool. Jane vanished into the inferno without a sound.

Holiday tisked at the waste of it all then hurried after the other scientists.

*********

Ace heard shouting. He turned his head, his vision clouded and his limbs like lead weight. He looked over and saw the man in black standing in a circle of light, flames framing his form. Blonde hair waved in front of the man’s scarred face. Ace thought maybe the man was fire itself, that Ace had died and this was the new user of the Flame Flame Devil Fruit. 

Suddenly the image changed and it was Sabo staring at Ace from across a camp fire. Short blonde hair framing his face from beneath a black top hat that was almost too big for the ten year old boy. His face serious though Ace couldn’t recall why. Something they were talking about had turned his usually cheerful friend solemn. 

Then Sabo spoke but it was the voice of a man that Ace heard come from his juvenile mouth.

“Come on! The exit’s this way.”

The view lurched and he became aware he was being carried. Why was that? Who was it that was carrying him? Weren’t he and Sabo sitting at a campfire talking? And why did Sabo talk like a grown man? His vision darkened. 

When it returned they were outside and Ace remembered they were on OK Ori Island and that Sabo had been killed eight years ago. It was the man in black that ran before them, leading them out. They were out of the building at last, but the scene beyond was the picture of hell. Fire and smoke filled his sight and there was the man in black leading them through the deadly landscape.

Suddenly, Ace was running past piles of trash, the sky transformed to the color of fire by the setting sun. Sabo was slightly ahead of him, leading him. That stupid annoying brat, Luffy, was being tortured by the Blue Jam Pirates because he had refused to tell them where Ace had taken their money. Ace and Sabo had thought for certain he would give up the information the moment the men got rough with him and so had spent the afternoon moving their treasure. Now they were rushing to rescue the kid. The thought that he was being tortured and would soon be killed had been too much for the two boys to stand.

Sabo’s back was to him as he led the way to the pirate’s hide out. Both of them were armed with pipes and held them in their hands as they ran, ready to fight as soon as they arrived.

His stomach lurched suddenly and he was returned to the present reality when his body was jolted. He was being carried by Teech because he was too weak to run on his own and they had just jumped down to a lower area. They were hopping from roof top to roof top, the streets below filling with lava.

They arrived at the wall and saw the walkways Ace and the others had used to descend into the area.

A small woman in black pulled out a grappling hook and threw it to the walkway above them. She then anchored the rope since the walkway wasn’t directly above the rooftop and they would have to climb forward over a rising pool of lava. The man went up first then Thatch. Teech went next and Ace felt his body being jostled as the big man adjusted his position so he could climb the rope without dropping him.

Part way up the rope, Ace felt himself begin to slip. Though he could feel it, he had no will to move. Everything seemed to be happening from a great distance and he was merely observing it like he would a play. 

Teech didn’t seem to notice until Rory cried out from below, “Teech! He’s falling!”

Teech, at that moment, had the same side hand as the main grip on the rope. With no time to adjust, he reached to grab Ace with his other hand, but he was reaching across his body and the movement dislodged Ace completely.

Ace felt the chill of freefall encompass him as his body lost contact with Teech’s shoulder. He should have grabbed at him, he should have clung to him, but Ace couldn’t work the will to even recognize that he was the one that was falling into the lava below.  
Sabo flashed in his mind again. He was smiling as he reached for Ace to help his friend into a hire branch of the tree. Ace finally moved, reaching out to take Sabo’s hand and felt fingers close around his wrist in an iron grip, then his whole body jerked. Reality returned when he was slammed into the rock wall with enough force to ignite his flames.

Ace looked up, it was the man in black clutching his wrist in one hand while the other was wrapped in a rope that was anchored to the walkway above.

“Milord!” cried the woman from the roof.

Ace stared into the man’s face. Blonde hair, a few inches in length, framed his face. Dark brown eyes stared into his from beneath a black top hat. The young face of his dead brother overlapped with this older one… and matched.

Sabo? thought Ace in bewilderment but his lips didn’t move. Sabo? His voice would not work. He clawed at consciousness, both desperate and terrified to confirm this hope. Was it really Sabo? Had Sabo survived eight years ago and continued out to sea like he had planned? Ace wanted to say something. He needed to say something! He needed to know! But his voice would not work and his lips would not move.

“Hang on, we’re pulling you up!” cried Thatch. Teech was up on the walkway now and the two men began to draw the rope this man was clinging to. Thatch pulled Ace over the railing as the man clambered over it once he was free of his burden.

The others followed quickly, the lava just beginning to reach the top of the roof. The woman came last, untying the rope and swinging out before climbing up. She recovered her rope once on the walkway.

The man moved several yards away from the group and began tapping on the wall. When he was satisfied he buried his fists into the rock then cried, “Dragon’s Breath!” The wall burst and he leapt to their area as the wall crumbled and fell into the lava. The rocks above tumbled free as well and soon there was a large hole in the wall that they could run through.

“This way,” said the man. “Our ships should be on the other side.”

“Thanks for this,” said Thatch as they ran through the tunnel. “Sorry about earlier.”

The man waved off the apology. “Forget it. You saved me and I saved you, so we’re even.”

They arrived on the other side and there was the sheltered cove. Lava poured into the ocean just beyond the boats, but the fire spout was mercifully several yards beyond where they had anchored and the boats were fine. The only problem was the original entrance was now cut off by the flowing magma and boiling sea.

“I’ll clear the rock barrier so we can sail out, after that you’re on your own.”

“Thanks again,” said Thatch.

Ace felt alarm at the man’s words. He was leaving as soon as they cleared the ships? No! Ace needed to talk to him. He need to ask his name! The man was only two feet from Teech. Ace felt his lips quiver as he tried to force them to move. He heard the hiss of his voice as he tried to force speech. He willed his lead-weighted arm to move. It was as if it were moving through molasses. 

He reached for the man and gasped in a voice barely audible to his own ears, “Sabo? Sabo! Wait! Please! Don’t leave me again! Sabo!” His outstretch fingers were about to touch the man’s shoulder when the man leapt forward to destroy the rock barrier that now trapped their ships.

“Sabo!” whispered Ace in despair. Tears began to slide down his cheeks at his own helplessness. Why? Why don’t you talk to me? Why don’t you look at me? Sabo!

The rock barrier exploded and the man jumped into his boat. The two companions, that had apparently gone ahead, were there. One, a fishman, was on the White Beard’s boat and he piloted it out after their own sailed clear. The woman in black jumped across to her boat. Thatch and the others leapt to theirs. With a final thanks to the fishman, the fishman leapt overboard to swim to his own ship. Thatch took the helm as Teech set Ace down on the deck. Ace turned his head to watch the other ship as he sailed away.

Why? Then Ace lost the battle to remain conscious and darkness took him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The third pitch led to quite the fly ball but alas it was caught and the game has ended. Sabo and Ace have failed to reunite.


	25. Unexpected Prize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a great deal of reflection by all parties.

Holiday stood upon the deck of the Tirus with several of his comrades and their assistants. OK Ori’s awakening was as breath-taking as it was terrifying. Lava shot up to tag the top of the caldera’s walls as ash billowed into the air. It was fully active now despite Jane’s demise. Perhaps it was never truly extinct like they thought and had merely been sleeping until she kicked it awake?

From the corner of his eye he caught the flutter of black wings and turned to regard the incoming bird. A raven glided down to the deck then hovered for a second next to him. With a flurry of black feathers, the bird grew large, furry tan hands replaced slick black feather wings, claw feet became boots and thick legs, and the wicked beak retracted as long rabbit ears sprouted from the side of the head.

“Hello, Briar,” said Holiday. “Cutting it kind of close, don’t you think?”

“Timothy tricked us,” said Briar. He sounded more amused rather than annoyed.

Holiday raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“He had full awareness and chose to help his comrades in the end. He drove the other failures into the fires and held the door against their return so the revolutionaries could escape.”

Holiday stroked the short beard on his chin as he thought. “Well that’s an improvement.”

“One would say that it is an argument in favor of us successfully summoning the soul of the dead back to this plane of existence. A pity the body was still a failure, though,” said Briar with a sad smile. 

“We’ve been set back a bit, haven’t we?” said Holiday. 

The smile faded when Briar turned to stare at the island. “We just have to start over again. Though, we might have to forego any further resurrection experiments. Just when we made such a significant breakthrough, too. We’ll just focus on the super soldier serum. Where is Mary, by the way? I didn’t see her on the deck of the ship.”

“She’s dead,” replied Holiday in a flat tone. 

For the first time, Briar was dumbfounded. “How unfortunate,” he said after a minute of working in jaw as he struggled to find the words to express his feelings. “This may be the end for our group now. How can we possibly continue with anything? The chalice and the egg were lost and now the means to create the basis for our super soldier serum. We no longer have the means to complete any of our work.” 

Holiday smiled. Briar was usually so confident, seeing the rabbit get flustered was a special treat. He shifted a bag he was carrying to the front and opened it, removing the large syringe of blood he had pulled from Fire Fist Ace. “Not necessarily,” he said with a grin. “I was able to salvage Mary’s final work.”

Briar stared in wonder at the syringe. “Is this…?” he whispered and went to touch it but withdrew his hand before he made contact. 

Holiday returned it to the chilled bag and replied, “I pulled it straight from that pirate just after Mary was killed. He was deep in the throes of rejection, those poor fools probably don’t even realize that medicine that boosts the immune system will only make the symptoms worse.”

“They probably didn’t realize it was rejection that he was suffering from,” said Briar. The rabbit thought for a moment then asked, “Did they escape?”

Holiday shrugged. “I was pretty certain they got trapped in the building, but I did tip off those revolutionaries about the pirates’ plight. They were chasing me through the halls and I didn’t know if I could escape them and the island. So I told them about the pirates to see what they would do. If they didn’t care I was no worse off but if they did… Well Sabo suddenly became conflicted and took off to go rescue them with his little ninja girl. The other two kept chasing but neither had the ability to capture me once the ninja left. I was able to out run them and they chose to head back to their ship rather than pursue me toward the harbor.”

Briar’s ears twitched then said, “If Fire Fist resurfaces we’ll know that they both escaped. I certainly hope we hear from them soon.”

“Why?”

Briar’s smile was laced with poison and dark humor. “Because, Fire Fist was exposed to a virus whose purpose is to inject itself into the cells of its host and become one with it. It also captures the genes of whatever it interacts with and replicates itself and those captured genes. Mary infected him to capture the Flame Flame Fruit’s fire ability. If he survives his infection the virus will still be slumbering in his body. After all, the virus went and merged with him. He probably will continue to produce it even after his symptoms are gone.”

Holiday grinned. “A carrier, huh? A new source for this virus now that Mary is gone.”

Briar glanced back at the burning island. “If he is ever captured, we’ll need to petition the government that he be moved to our new facility. Letting him languish in Impel Down or worse executing him would be a waste of a rare resource.”

“I wonder if that virus really did acquire the Flame Flame Fruit’s abilities.”

“If it did, that alone would be a boon to our super soldier project. Imagine an army of Marines that can control fire,” said Briar with a grin. “That renegade scientist, Judge, altered his own children with devil fruit genes. Those children are terrifying soldiers with superhuman abilities and posses special elemental powers they can evoke without any special equipment. So an army of Marines doing the same thing would make the World Government the greatest power in the world. Which is what they want and why our projects get funded.”

“A pity about the chalice and the egg, though,” said Holiday with a sigh. “The fire ability is a great prize but without the dragon it becomes a poor consolation prize. The Pacifistas that Vegapunk is working on will get all the attention because it will have everything they want in a super soldier, and weapon, while ours can’t get past the rejection stage.”

“Not necessarily,” said a voice from behind the two.

Briar and Holiday turned and there was Ringo holding the two items whose loss they were just lamenting. They stared in shock.

“It was a close call, but I retrieved them. Everything else can be replicated from notes and memory, but the Holy Grail and the Egg of the Sky Dragon King cannot. We acquired these by a stroke of luck, we’ll never have another shot at such prizes if let them be destroyed.”

“Indeed,” said Holiday with a laugh.

“Well done, though I imagine with the loss of the island the World Government will still focus more on Vegapunk’s cyborg weapons. However, with these three keys our time will come.” Briar turned back to regard the destruction of the island. “Maybe that in itself is a blessing. Dragon will think we’ve been thwarted and not pursue us and we can work in peace. Not until we are ready will anyone know what we have made. The Revolutionary Army will never know what hit them.”

*********

“What in the world did you do, Sabo?” exclaimed the captain of the Icarus as the young man climbed aboard. The gray of predawn was on the eastern horizon. Behind them the island burned and billowed ash into the sky.

“You know, this time, it really wasn’t my fault,” said Sabo as he sank down onto the deck, giving into his exhaustion.

The captain sighed and asked, “And Timothy?” Sabo sat in silence, not sure how to vocalize what had happened. Koala spoke up instead.

“We found him. However, he was used as part of experiment that ultimately proved fatal to him. He chose to use the last of his life to help us escape. He was grateful we came. It allowed him to pass on the information he had failed to before as well as information he had learned after he was captured.” Koala narrowed her eyes and finished, “It was not a wasted trip.”

The captain bowed his head and whispered, “Good man.” After a moment of silence the captain continued, “We best head back to Baltigo, then. We have everything we could claim from this island.”

“Not everything,” said Sabo. The captain turned to regard the young man. “Holiday still escaped and we learned he was not even the worst one there.”

The captain walked over and patted the young man on his shoulder. “Rest, Sabo. You’ve done enough. This is probably the one time that your pension for absolute destruction was a good thing. It surely set them back and we rescued all the people who needed rescuing that could be rescued. You did well, Chief.”

Sabo glanced at the old vet and pursed his lips. “Aren’t you being presumptuous there, Captain?” 

The captain grinned and said, “Perhaps, but I can’t see anyone more suited to the role than you. You have instincts and vision, Dragon’s right hand will need that in the years to come.” 

“I think you’re reading too much into things,” said Sabo. He rose and walked to the stern of the ship. Once there, he stared up at the stars. His heart hurt. His mind felt like it was riding a spinning top and he could barely make sense of anything. Images of that young pirate kept flitting through his head, though, he didn’t know why. Voices calling from across the sea, echoed in his ears, though, he could not understand a single word that was spoken nor see the faces of the speakers. He stared at the stars letting the wind tousle his hair, trying to clear his mind of the whirling thoughts that plagued him.

Sabo needed to forget that pirate. He wasn’t anything to him. He had repaid his debt. They were even. He had even risked his life to save the man from that fall when his incompetent companion had dropped him. 

Sabo didn’t understand why he had done that. If not for Akatsuki’s quick responses, he would have died right along with the ailing pirate. 

Sabo had watched the young man slip from the big pirate’s back and he had just moved without thinking, leaping over the railing and reaching out to grab his wrist. Akatsuki had thrown a second rope, (that woman was prepared for everything), one end she expertly wrapped around his up raised wrist while the second had looped around the railing above. It had been the only thing that had prevented the two men from plunging into the lava below.

Why had he done that? Why?

In that moment, Sabo had felt a fear as great as if his own life were at stake. As if he was the one about to die. He had just leapt. He had just suddenly been flying down toward the falling man.

Why?

Sabo’s heart beat another painful beat and the last image he had of the man floated before his mind’s eye. When he had cleared the rock barrier, before Koala had steered their ship toward the gap, he had looked back. The ailing young man had been staring at him with tears streaming down his cheeks, his hand outstretched toward him, his mouth forming the word, “Why?”

Sabo closed his eyes and felt something warm slide down both cheeks. Tears. He was crying. Why? Why did thinking about that man make him so sad? Why did he have to save him? Why did he care about him?

Sabo gripped the railing of the ship, his face turned down toward the ocean waves that kissed the rudder and wept like his heart would break and he couldn’t even begin to understand his own sudden heartache. Which made his chest hurt all the more.

***********

Why?

Ace’s return to the waking world was lined with variants of that one question.

Why?

Why had Sabo not said anything to him? Why did Sabo leave without even looking at him? Why had Sabo been so distant and cold? Why was Sabo even there?

Memories danced through his hazy mind, images of the past when he had Sabo had scrounged for money and resources in Gray Terminal. The time they had built the tree house with Luffy after swearing to be brothers forever. And the memory of the day Sabo offered himself up to his father to save Ace and Luffy. The very last time either boy would see Sabo alive. A few days later, Dabo told them the terrible news, that Sabo had been killed while trying to escape the island on a stolen fishing boat. The letter he had written and sent to Ace just hours before his demise, arriving the day after with the promise to meet on the open sea someday. A promise that could never be fulfilled.

Eight years after his death, suddenly Sabo was there, but he hadn’t tried to speak to Ace. He had been a stranger to him. Why? What had happened to his brother? Why was he so cold to Ace? Did he blame Ace for not saving him when his father forced him to return home? For not understanding that sometimes having parents wasn’t a good thing? Why?

Ace opened his eyes and the familiar ceiling of the cabin aboard the Moby Dick greeted him. Ace briefly wondered if the whole thing had been a terrible dream. That Typhoid Mary had never appeared on the Moby Dick and that Sabo really was dead.  
Then a face appeared in his view. Long fawn brown hair and too serious green eyes stared down into his. “You are awake, Ace-kun,” stated Guinevere, dashing Ace’s hopes that the whole adventure on OK Ori Island was just a figment of his imagination.  
“What happened?” he asked as he tried to sort out his feeling of renewed grief that threatened to turn him into a weeping mess.

“We escaped, but you were getting worse. Rory struggled to stabilize you as we rushed back to your ship. He gave you medicine to bring down your fever but dared nothing else. Fortunately, it seems this White Beard was worried about you as well. He was closer than anyone had expected. At noon that same day, we spotted the Moby Dick. Your stricken shipmates were recovering.

“Once you were onboard, the doctor examined and determined the virus was gone, but that your body was overreacting to the infection and was now attacking you that was why you weren’t getting any better. They gave you a drug to suppress your immune system and ordered everyone to stay out of your cabin since you were now vulnerable to secondary infections. Things were made worse when you again started coughing blood and needed a transfusion. It seems your blood is a rare type and no one on the ship could donate.”

Ace looked at her confused, much of her explanation of his health woes going over his head, but he understood the last part. “Then how?”

“I offered mine and it was a match,” replied Guinevere.

Ace, startled by her blunt admission, asked, “Why? You didn’t have to do that. No one would have asked you to. You took us to Mary even when you had a ship to escape on. You fulfilled your promise. So why?”

She placed a hand on his cheek and said, “I wanted to. Besides, you seem special. I look into your eyes and I feel like I am seeing a little brother. Your eyes are so… mesmerizing.”

Ace felt himself squirm under her gaze. Her green eyes glittered like two emeralds and appeared, for a brief moment, like something other than human, something ancient and terrifying. She blinked and they were ordinary green human eyes. 

“The doctor only cleared you yesterday,” she continued and Ace breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Though, you were not yet awake. That is why I am not wearing a mask right now. Your vitality is surprisingly strong for a human. I fear anyone else would have died.”

Ace felt the corner of his mouth twitch upward. “Guess I was lucky, huh.”

Guinevere stared at him for another uncomfortable moment then shrugged and turned away. Ace heaved another sigh of relief to be out from under her gaze. He looked over to the bedside and saw a vase with a single red hibiscus flower in it.

Ace struggled to sit up, he had never felt so weak before in his life, and Guinevere helped him into a sitting position. She adjusted the pillows of his bed so that he could lean against them. Settled, he glanced over at the flower again then reached out to it.

“What’s this?” asked Ace. He pulled the flower from the vase and brought it closer to examine. The scent was strangely nostalgic and comforting while at the same time, sad.

“Rory brought it in this morning,” replied Guinevere. “I thought it a lovely gesture. Especially when he explained that he thought it would be a comfort for you, since it was your mother’s favorite flower.”

Ace froze. Rory had known his mother? Suddenly a whole lot of behaviors made sense to Ace. If Rory had loved his mother, Rouge, he must have been hurt when she chose Roger. He would naturally be un-accepting of his rival’s son. If Ace’s mother had lived Rory might have been able to overcome those feelings for Rouge’s sake. However, Rouge had died to bring Ace into this world. The son of a love rival that had killed the woman Rory loved, yes, Ace could see why Rory hated him.

But this flower…

A peace offering?

Ace sniffed the flower’s fragrance letting the feeling of warmth and sorrow fill him. His mother must have worn it when he was born. He had breathed it in as a newborn baby during that precious hour when his mother had held him and loved him. And she had worn it as she died, her heart giving out from the massive effort to arrest her unborn child’s growth so that the Marines would not find him. Her life spent to give him his.

Tears slid down his cheeks. Ace hated that he was crying, but Guinevere made no comment, she just let him mourn his mother. As his sorrow spilled forth a new grief rose in him. The image of his lost brother appeared again like a specter.

Clutching the stem of the hibiscus he whispered, “You know, I thought I saw my brother on OK Ori Island. The one that was killed eight years ago. He was right there within arm’s reach yet I couldn’t touch him. I couldn’t speak to him.”

Guinevere was silent for a moment then leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Ace’s shoulders. “Maybe he was,” she said. “You were so close to death. Maybe he came to make sure you would be all right. I imagine you may have worried your mother as well.”

Ace grinned as tears continued to slide down his face and into his hands. “Yeah, that’s probably it.” Sabo wouldn’t have ignored me. That man just looked like him a little. I was hallucinating and wanted to believe the impossible.

Ace grimaced as his heart grew heavy. His shoulders shook as he struggled to suppress his sobs. Guinevere stroked his hair and whispered words of comfort into his ears as Ace lost the battle for self control and openly wept in her arms.

Sabo was dead and never coming back. He needed to accept that and not be fooled by look-a-likes. It made reality far too painful if he kept letting himself hope again only to be reminded it wasn’t so.


	26. Sabo and Ace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a great many good byes and a promotion.

Somewhere in New World, several days later…

Ace looked down at the boat that floated along next to the giant ship, Moby Dick, then back over at Guinevere. “You’re really going,” he said.

“Yes,” replied Guinevere. “It has been four years since I left, I should at least go so I can lay my comrades to rest, once I retrieve their swords and armor from the vaults of Marine Headquarters, that is.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to march into Marineford all by yourself,” said Ace.

“I will not be as loud as some people, so it should be fine,” she said and tousled Ace’s hair.

Ace flushed red in embarrassment. “I didn’t want to sneeze and that’s not what alerted those giants to us anyway!” he said, sulking.

Guinevere smiled then leaned over and kissed Ace on his forehead, which really turned him red. “You really are like a little brother,” she said.

Ace huffed and looked away. Friend-zoned, he thought, not that he cared. No, really, he didn’t care. He wasn’t looking for companionship, but he usually was the one friend-zoning the women that showed interest in him. So it was weird to be the one being put in the not-even-slightly-interested-in-romance zone. Of course this seemed to be a different level of friend-zone, brother-zoned. It was an even odder sensation since it seemed to give her a free pass to be affectionate while expecting nothing in return. He sighed. 

Ace could sense the crew’s less than sympathetic snickering even as he got the feeling there was going to be a lot of booze flowing tonight with the majority of it being shoved into his hands. Like he needed sympathy. Just because he had had a moment where he balled like a baby in her arms, everyone assumed he had it bad for Guinevere. 

Damn Rory for walking in at the moment when he was weeping in her arms. It had taken Ace every ounce of self-control he possessed in that moment not to fry him. Guinevere had then given Rory a look that had sent the older man falling over himself in his desperation to escape the room. Unfortunately, as was with any crew on a pirate ship, the word was out before evening that Guinevere and Ace had been caught having a tender moment in the cabin.

Seriously, pirate crews were worse than housewives when it came to gossip.

Nothing Ace said could squash the rumors. They took his protests as proof and it further fueled the stories. And it didn’t help that Guinevere had completely settled on the idea of him being a little brother type to her and was apparently an affectionate older sister. Ace found he actually didn’t mind that. He had no idea why but there was something within him that seemed to want it, craved it. Maybe it was just his desire for family that made him so open to her acceptance. Then again it was hard to act tough in front of the person you just cried your heart out to.

Ace was going to miss Guinevere and he was already worrying about her journey.

“Ace-kun,” said Guinevere, breaking into his thoughts. She handed him a piece of paper. 

A vivre card? he wondered as he took it from her.

“Do not lose that, Ace-kun,” she said in a stern manner. “Do not share it with anyone else either. If ever you find you are unsure of who you are, follow the card. It will lead you to a place with answers.”

“Huh?” Ace wondered at her strange explanation. Guinevere had a fondness for talking in riddles.

“You are different but I do not know how you are different. Should you discover how, this card may lead to the answer to questions you do not know to ask right now,” she continued while still being cryptic.

“Sure,” said Ace and he took the card. He looked at it then tucked it into the small hidden pocket in his hat’s skull emblem. People searched pockets of pants and shirts but never hats since hats generally didn’t have pockets. The vivre card would be safe there until such a time as Guinevere described.

She tousled his hair again. “Oh come on,” said Ace as he tried to smooth out his ebony locks. She smiled at him again, her emerald eyes flashing, then she jumped over the side of the ship into the small travel boat White Beard was giving her.

Several pirates, including Thatch, Teech and Rory stood by the railing and waved down to Guinevere calling out various good-byes and wishing her well. She waved back at them as she untied the boat then she steered the small vessel away from the Moby Dick.  
Ace watched her go and wondered if they would ever see each other again.

“Well, Ace, it seems you were rejected,” said Teech as he waddled over toward the young man. He put a hand on Ace’s shoulder and added, “If you need a shoulder to cry on, mine’s plenty big.”

Ace turned red, snarled something immensely foul, then drove his elbow into the big man’s gut… to the roaring laughter of the White Beard Pirates. 

*********

Baltigo…

Sabo stood in Dragon’s main office having just finished his report on OK Ori island. Everyone was silent for a while then Edmond spoke up, unable to contain himself.

“You really put yourself out there for so little gain. You really are the crazy one.”

“Edmond, be quiet,” said Dragon. Edmond flushed but fell silent. Sabo glanced at Edmond, the young man seemed to be more hostile than before and he had no idea why.

“I’m sure that must have been painful to find Timothy like that,” said Dragon after another pause. “I’m grateful you were able to retrieve the last of his information from him, Sabo. You helped him find peace in the end.”

“Just why did you continue to search for him after the earlier information indicated he was most likely dead?” asked, Helgram, Dragon’s top advisor and Sabo’s biggest critic among the older generation. Sabo bit his lip as he remembered the file on Project Imperial Rose. Helgram and his wife had been one of the first couples in that experiment.

Sabo said nothing on the matter and simply replied to Helgram’s question, “Instinct.” Helgram grimaced but said nothing more. The former vice-admiral could appreciate a soldier’s instincts as they could be more reliable then hard evidence in a battle.

Sabo turned his attention back to Dragon. He badly wanted to be alone with the man to talk about what he had found in OK Ori Island’s archive. He knew he shouldn’t recklessly discuss it with people, but the matter was not leaving him alone. Questions burned in his mind and he was not comfortable enough with anyone else that may have been part of it for one reason or another. He held his peace hoping the opportunity would come.

“We’ll need time to figure out what do with this information,” said Dragon. “I suggest everyone retire for the evening and get some rest. Tomorrow will be soon enough to discuss this, after we’ve all had a night to process it.”

Everyone in the room nodded. Taking Dragon’s words as the signal to leave, they began to depart the room. Sabo waited, waving Koala and Hack to go on without him. Akatsuki was once again missing. Probably lurking in the shadows. It couldn’t be helped.  
Once he and Dragon were alone and Dragon was looking at him expectantly, Sabo sighed and said, “There was something I left out of the report because it wasn’t relevant and it seemed rather sensitive.”

“Yes,” said Dragon, coaxing Sabo to continue when he paused.

I’m just going to have to spit it out, thought Sabo. He took a deep breath and continued, “Project Imperial Rose. What is it?”

Dragon’s eyes widened and his face blanched. Sabo felt a pressure fill the room and breathing became difficult. Sabo feared he may have overstepped and was about to apologize when Dragon clamped down on his feelings and the room returned to normal. “You heard that from Timothy?”

Sabo shook his head. “We were trying to figure out what Timothy had been trying to tell us when we found ourselves in an archive. We were searching files and I stumbled across that one and saw your name.” Sabo swallowed and didn’t move. “Briar stated that the experiment was not handled well by the developer.”

“What a well informed bunny, the man is,” muttered Dragon. He sighed. “You read about my son in those files?”

Sabo nodded. “Briar asked if I knew where he was. I told him that even if I did know, I wouldn’t say anything to him. I think his interest in your son was strictly academic, though.”

A shadow of a smile crossed Dragon’s lips. “He’s a greedy bunny as well it seems.” The older man sighed and his eyes grew sad for a moment before returning to his usual steel. “I don’t want you to speak about this with anyone. Especially not my son, should you two ever meet. He doesn’t need to know about that kind of thing.”

“Yes, sir,” said Sabo, not feeling like he could ask his questions, though they were burning him all the more.

“You were probably disturbed by what you read,” said Dragon as if reading Sabo’s mind.

Sabo nodded.

Dragon was silent for a moment then said, “The project was to enhance a human’s natural abilities to be more than just human. That’s why they wanted the best. We were aware that we would be altering our children to become strong Marines. There was no way they could have done the procedure without our knowledge or consent. They just didn’t mention the risks and lied about the successes. We believed in the cause back then and didn’t think anything of volunteering for the experiment. We were naïve and paid a terrible price for it.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” whispered Sabo. He looked down at the floor wishing more than anything that he had not found that file, that he had not read it.

“So am I,” said Dragon. The man stood up and stared out the balcony door. Night had fallen and the stars were shining. “You should go rest. There will be more questions and much discussion in tomorrow’s meeting.”

“But I’ve submitted my report,” said Sabo, confused but glad for the change of subject. 

“This is a meeting with my top officers that are currently present,” said Dragon, he turned to meet Sabo’s bewildered gaze. “That includes you, Chief.”

Sabo stared in shock. “Me? You want me to be your right hand man? Your Chief of Staff?”

“Yes. I had made up my mind before you left, but only just announced it a few days ago,” said Dragon. “I apologize for doing that before you returned but I wanted to put out the potential fires without you being here to get scorched by them.”

“But I’m always messing up!”

“Yet, for a mission like this one, you were the only one I could trust to get the job done. No one else would have been half as successful as you.”

“Dragon…”

Dragon looked away, a clear dismissal. Old Marine habits were hard to break. Sabo turned to leave. “By the way, Sabo...”

Sabo paused mid-turn and looked back. “Yes?”

“When you went back to help those White Beard Pirates, what was the reason?”

Sabo thought about it. He had been thinking about it the whole way back to Baltigo, but he still couldn’t put the reason into words. Finally he settled for the same answer as before. “Instinct.”

Dragon was silent for a long moment and Sabo felt sweat beading on his forehead, wondering if Dragon would accept his statement. Sabo couldn’t hope to explain himself and anything else felt like an excuse.

Finally Dragon said, “I see. Then good evening, Sabo.”

“Sir,” responded Sabo with a nod to Dragon, though the man couldn’t see from his position. Sabo then turned and left the room.

The face of the young pirate once again rose to dance in his vision as he walked. Sabo shook his head violently. Just forget about it! he thought angrily.

“Milord,” came the hushed voice form his elbow. He looked over and there was Akatsuki matching pace with him. “Congratulations on making Chief.”

Sabo nearly tripped at her words. He never expected Akatsuki to ever congratulate him on anything. She just didn’t seem the type.

“Thanks,” he said.

“You are still troubled by what occurred on OK Ori Island?”

“A bit,” said Sabo.

“I will see if I can locate Briar and Holiday and put an end to them and their experiments,” said Akatsuki.

Sabo nearly tripped again. “What?”

“It would be best if those two were located sooner rather than later. They had some nasty projects they were working on and, as long as they live, they can start over. The island’s lost would be a setback, nothing more.”

“I agree,” said Sabo, “but what are we going to do about it?”

“You’re the chief now, right?”

“Yes…”

“Then you can just send me on an official mission to track down their whereabouts.”

She was right, he could do that. He glanced at her and said, “For someone who claims to only serve, you sure are good at getting to do what you want.”

“What I want is to serve you in the best way possible. Sometimes making suggestion is necessary to fulfill that role.”

“Uh-huh.” Sabo sighed. Still Akatsuki was one hundred percent correct regarding Briar and Holiday. Holiday had gotten away with the transmutation virus. He had it in his hand when he was fleeing them that final time.

“Akatsuki, you may go on your mission to track down Briar and Holiday. Gather as much intel as you can so that this next mission will be successful, but don’t engage them yourself. I don’t want to risk my best ninja unnecessarily.”

“I’m your only ninja, Milord,” she corrected, though, she didn’t sound annoyed.

“That’s why I can’t afford to lose you. You’re still the best even if you don’t have any immediate competition.”

“I understand, Milord. I will find and learn as much about Briar and Holiday, so the next time they will not escape.”

She then turned and was gone in a blink.

Sabo hoped he had done the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story continues in "Shadow Storm". 
> 
> After the events of Paramount War, Sabo still reals with the return of his memories and the knowledge he has lost his childhood friend and brother forever. Talked out of taking revenge by Nico Robin, he finds himself unable to focus on his daily responsibilities. Until Akatsuki reappears with news of Doc Holiday and Briar. But what is the truth behind this secretive ninja and should Sabo really be trusting her?


End file.
